It's Microsoft, and this is Slashdot - a place where readers will make up random stuff to bash Microsoft with, so manipulating the facts is child's play in comparison. After all, there was much bashing when it was announced that the 360 was going to have a new processor design in the future, even though every other console in history has done the same things.
People don't let truth and reality get in the way here.
There are plenty of options that parents can set to affect their kids' online play. Everything from requiring that friend requests be approved by the parent or just blocked completely, to preventing online play or blocking voice communication.
Now the various MLG players can let their egos get even bigger. They're already obnoxious and arrogant - televising them isn't going to help reduce that.
No... I meant as in working ON the console itself.:) I guess I didn't make that quite clear in the first message, now that I look it over.
And anyway... I do almost all of my gaming on a console now. Any PC gaming is older stuff that I still like to play from time to time (SMAC, Diablo II) And that's rather rare.
I was the same way. I wanted to be a game developer for so long. At graduation, I was upset that I only got contacted by Maxis AFTER I had already accepted a job. Since then, though, I've realized that the job at Maxis would have been high-hours and low-pay in a location that would have been way too expensive to live in. And that the game industry works people way too hard in general - just as the article mentions. So I had given up ever being involved in the gaming industry.
But you should never really give up - just get pickier. I've now scored a job with a great company that doesn't work people to death, and I get to be involved in gaming - just on the console side. Not what I would have ever expected, but I may well now be working in my dream job.
I did just that. Left a large communications company to move to the pacific NW. I ended up at a better company in a better area and made more money. I also found the dress code was even MORE relaxed - and next thing you know, I had multicolored hair, and the piercings are collecting. And it's not like that's gonna be a problem - I just recently ended up taking a position for a different team that I'm going to like EVEN MORE, and my hair was purple, blue, and green during my interviews.
If I was working with customers, I'm sure it would be different. But I don't, so those sorts of details aren't treated as that important. I could wear pajamas to work. And I love that fact.:)
When my partner and I have kids, one of the goals is going to be making sure they get the chance to do a bunch of things, including various physical activities. Sure, they'll learn that gaming is ok, but we'll be teaching them to ski/snowboard, taking them on hikes, going bicycling, etc.
If someone takes the time as a parent to get exposure to a lot of things, then they won't have to worry as much about the kids becoming sedentary. (which is what I assume you mean instead of sentient - I would hope that peoples' children are sentient:) )
And even those people that don't do such things for their kids - I'd rather their kids be gaming then being couch potatoes. At least games stimulate the mind.
Your profile is more than just a username and password. All the achievements are tracked locally (which enables earning them offline and connecting to live later), and there's a significant amount of data associated with that specific profile, such as various settings. By default, this is stored on the HD of the 360 (if you have one), but moving it to the memory card enables portability.
There is also only one instance of the account allowed to be in existence at once, due to various syncing issues. You can "recover" your gamertag to any other Xbox 360, but doing so will lose your settings, and invalidate all other instances of that gamertag.
So it's more like having the option to save your email account to a USB key, so that you can take the key and not only check mail from any internet-connected PC, but that you have all your mail, your address book, and calendar available when offline on those PCs.
To view a video, you need to look up a friend in the "Clips" section of the game's UI. Then you get a list of up to three videos that the other user has shared. When you view one, it's downloaded to your HD, and then played - through the game, using the game engine. You can actually change the camera view while watching this video. So it's not just a recording that can be replaced with any other video. It's game replay data.
You can move your Xbox Live account onto your memory card, so you can play at a friend's house and still each achievements and get on scoreboards and play online. Along with bringing over data from a game so you can get all your unlocked characters/cars/created content.
XBLA games are tied to both the box they were downloaded on, and the gamertag that bought them.
You can put them on a memory card and play at a friend's place - if they have access to XBLA, then they can play the full version as long as your gamertag is logged in, and even copy it to their hard drive. But once your GT is gone, they revert to demo versions.
However, the box you bought them on has the full version available for every person who uses that 360. So you could technically be playing two copies of that game at the same time - one on the box you bought it on, and one on another with the buying gamertag logged in. And yes, this is intentional.
If the box you buy it on dies, and you end up with a replacement, you can redownload the game, but then you lose the ability to have other accounts play the full version without the purchasing one being logged in. You can try calling support in such a case - more than once they've worked with people who have had to send in their Xbox to get fresh versions on their new Xbox that properly link to that box.
XBox live is a very closed service where all of the servers are hosted by Microsoft and all communication is transmitted from an individual client to the server (or vice versa) including all game data as well as voice communication; this means that Microsoft has to host tons of servers (for every game available on XBox Live) each having adequate bandwith for the users; (add on top of this massive data storage to hold all types of stats on a persons game history and movie preferences and favourite ice-cream flavour and you end up with a very expensive service.
Sure, the MB tagger isn't perfect, but it's better than anything else I've found. Typically, I rip a CD, letting the program tag it from whatever database it feels like, I confirm that it's the right tags, then I run it through the MB tagger to fix the typically atrocious spelling and capitalization problems that plague all the other places. That's never been a problem for me. Ever. If the ripper would grab the data from MB in the first place, I wouldn't need that extra step.
The only time I do have issues is barely tagged stuff that I get from miscellaneous sources.
As an automod over at Last.fm, I've had to do quite a bit of work myself (back when they had the moderation system) to try and make up for some of the horribly-tagged crap people get from other sources.
Oh great, more crappily-tagged songs. I don't think there's a CD tagging service out there currently that's not half-crappy. I sure as hell wouldn't want stuff on my iPod until I've been able to run it through MusicBrainz and get things cleaned up and presentable.
The quote? No idea. Searches have only been able to show that it was someone on usenet that seems to have first said it, but nobody can attribute it to a specific person.
Gaming abilities were placed above appearance as selection criteria. My understanding is that they were much quicker to dismiss girls without exceptional gaming skills and interest than they were to dismiss those that weren't "above average" in appearance. Yes, appearance is important since they would be doing a LOT of work with the public and media. That's just the way things work in society today. Besides, they'd get blasted either way. Heck, as it is I've seen people attack them as "not very attractive", but I realize those idiots probably think that models in magazines really look like that and aren't massively airbrushed.
And "trimmed up bimbos" is totally ridiculous and insulting. One of the Frag Dolls has already left - due to getting a job working at Bungie, and it's not exactly like she's just being a cheerleader there. Another, as I said, started up my clan with her twin sister. Creating a clan out of nothing, and getting it to the point where there are hundreds of girls involved, along with multiple organizations sponsoring us in one manner or another, is not something that any clueless idiot can do - she's worked hard to do that. And a friend of mine who's in the running to fill the open Frag Dolls spot is a web developer at her company, and about to enter flight school.
And BTW, my clan is full of ladies of all ages and types. We've got girls that are barely teenagers, along with quite a few women in their 40's, and everyone in-between.
Yes, the Frag Dolls were put together by UbiSoft, and the company does pay them to travel to various gaming-related conventions and shows. They do make media appearances and the like. And yes, they were at least partially picked for their attractiveness - though that was secondary to making sure they were all serious and GOOD gamers.
One of the Frag Dolls is also one of the co-founders of my clan, the PMS Clan, and a few more of them are members. They're not pretty faces that can barely play, they're all dead serious gamers that are quite skilled, and they're very much into promoting gaming as acceptable for girls.
Slashdot Mirror
It's Microsoft, and this is Slashdot - a place where readers will make up random stuff to bash Microsoft with, so manipulating the facts is child's play in comparison. After all, there was much bashing when it was announced that the 360 was going to have a new processor design in the future, even though every other console in history has done the same things.
People don't let truth and reality get in the way here.
There are plenty of options that parents can set to affect their kids' online play. Everything from requiring that friend requests be approved by the parent or just blocked completely, to preventing online play or blocking voice communication.
Awesome.
Now the various MLG players can let their egos get even bigger. They're already obnoxious and arrogant - televising them isn't going to help reduce that.
No... I meant as in working ON the console itself. :) I guess I didn't make that quite clear in the first message, now that I look it over.
And anyway... I do almost all of my gaming on a console now. Any PC gaming is older stuff that I still like to play from time to time (SMAC, Diablo II) And that's rather rare.
I was the same way. I wanted to be a game developer for so long. At graduation, I was upset that I only got contacted by Maxis AFTER I had already accepted a job. Since then, though, I've realized that the job at Maxis would have been high-hours and low-pay in a location that would have been way too expensive to live in. And that the game industry works people way too hard in general - just as the article mentions. So I had given up ever being involved in the gaming industry.
But you should never really give up - just get pickier. I've now scored a job with a great company that doesn't work people to death, and I get to be involved in gaming - just on the console side. Not what I would have ever expected, but I may well now be working in my dream job.
Well, perhaps it's that I'm clean and non-sandal wearing while being pierced and colored-hair-having. Maybe that's the key. :)
Get out of the midwest - it helps.
:)
I did just that. Left a large communications company to move to the pacific NW. I ended up at a better company in a better area and made more money. I also found the dress code was even MORE relaxed - and next thing you know, I had multicolored hair, and the piercings are collecting. And it's not like that's gonna be a problem - I just recently ended up taking a position for a different team that I'm going to like EVEN MORE, and my hair was purple, blue, and green during my interviews.
If I was working with customers, I'm sure it would be different. But I don't, so those sorts of details aren't treated as that important. I could wear pajamas to work. And I love that fact.
When my partner and I have kids, one of the goals is going to be making sure they get the chance to do a bunch of things, including various physical activities. Sure, they'll learn that gaming is ok, but we'll be teaching them to ski/snowboard, taking them on hikes, going bicycling, etc.
:) )
If someone takes the time as a parent to get exposure to a lot of things, then they won't have to worry as much about the kids becoming sedentary. (which is what I assume you mean instead of sentient - I would hope that peoples' children are sentient
And even those people that don't do such things for their kids - I'd rather their kids be gaming then being couch potatoes. At least games stimulate the mind.
And if I read more carefully, I would have realized you were arguing in FAVOR of my point. :)
Your profile is more than just a username and password. All the achievements are tracked locally (which enables earning them offline and connecting to live later), and there's a significant amount of data associated with that specific profile, such as various settings. By default, this is stored on the HD of the 360 (if you have one), but moving it to the memory card enables portability.
There is also only one instance of the account allowed to be in existence at once, due to various syncing issues. You can "recover" your gamertag to any other Xbox 360, but doing so will lose your settings, and invalidate all other instances of that gamertag.
So it's more like having the option to save your email account to a USB key, so that you can take the key and not only check mail from any internet-connected PC, but that you have all your mail, your address book, and calendar available when offline on those PCs.
To view a video, you need to look up a friend in the "Clips" section of the game's UI. Then you get a list of up to three videos that the other user has shared. When you view one, it's downloaded to your HD, and then played - through the game, using the game engine. You can actually change the camera view while watching this video. So it's not just a recording that can be replaced with any other video. It's game replay data.
That's why it's not possible.
Not possible.
The message only tells you to go look at the videos of for new clips. The actual video is stored on EA's servers.
You can move your Xbox Live account onto your memory card, so you can play at a friend's house and still each achievements and get on scoreboards and play online. Along with bringing over data from a game so you can get all your unlocked characters/cars/created content.
Actually, I have even better sources for that information than Major Nelson's blogcast. :)
XBLA games are tied to both the box they were downloaded on, and the gamertag that bought them.
You can put them on a memory card and play at a friend's place - if they have access to XBLA, then they can play the full version as long as your gamertag is logged in, and even copy it to their hard drive. But once your GT is gone, they revert to demo versions.
However, the box you bought them on has the full version available for every person who uses that 360. So you could technically be playing two copies of that game at the same time - one on the box you bought it on, and one on another with the buying gamertag logged in. And yes, this is intentional.
If the box you buy it on dies, and you end up with a replacement, you can redownload the game, but then you lose the ability to have other accounts play the full version without the purchasing one being logged in. You can try calling support in such a case - more than once they've worked with people who have had to send in their Xbox to get fresh versions on their new Xbox that properly link to that box.
PGR3 only has the demo version of Geometry Wars. You can download the demo from Live Arcade to get the same thing there.
The full version is only available for purchase through XBLA.
XBox live is a very closed service where all of the servers are hosted by Microsoft and all communication is transmitted from an individual client to the server (or vice versa) including all game data as well as voice communication; this means that Microsoft has to host tons of servers (for every game available on XBox Live) each having adequate bandwith for the users; (add on top of this massive data storage to hold all types of stats on a persons game history and movie preferences and favourite ice-cream flavour and you end up with a very expensive service.
You don't know much about Xbox Live, do you?
Sure, the MB tagger isn't perfect, but it's better than anything else I've found. Typically, I rip a CD, letting the program tag it from whatever database it feels like, I confirm that it's the right tags, then I run it through the MB tagger to fix the typically atrocious spelling and capitalization problems that plague all the other places. That's never been a problem for me. Ever. If the ripper would grab the data from MB in the first place, I wouldn't need that extra step.
The only time I do have issues is barely tagged stuff that I get from miscellaneous sources.
As an automod over at Last.fm, I've had to do quite a bit of work myself (back when they had the moderation system) to try and make up for some of the horribly-tagged crap people get from other sources.
Oh great, more crappily-tagged songs. I don't think there's a CD tagging service out there currently that's not half-crappy. I sure as hell wouldn't want stuff on my iPod until I've been able to run it through MusicBrainz and get things cleaned up and presentable.
Shhh, we're not supposed to mention such things here, lest the rest of the Slashdotters hunt us down for being evil. :)
The quote? No idea. Searches have only been able to show that it was someone on usenet that seems to have first said it, but nobody can attribute it to a specific person.
Gaming abilities were placed above appearance as selection criteria. My understanding is that they were much quicker to dismiss girls without exceptional gaming skills and interest than they were to dismiss those that weren't "above average" in appearance. Yes, appearance is important since they would be doing a LOT of work with the public and media. That's just the way things work in society today. Besides, they'd get blasted either way. Heck, as it is I've seen people attack them as "not very attractive", but I realize those idiots probably think that models in magazines really look like that and aren't massively airbrushed.
And "trimmed up bimbos" is totally ridiculous and insulting. One of the Frag Dolls has already left - due to getting a job working at Bungie, and it's not exactly like she's just being a cheerleader there. Another, as I said, started up my clan with her twin sister. Creating a clan out of nothing, and getting it to the point where there are hundreds of girls involved, along with multiple organizations sponsoring us in one manner or another, is not something that any clueless idiot can do - she's worked hard to do that. And a friend of mine who's in the running to fill the open Frag Dolls spot is a web developer at her company, and about to enter flight school.
And BTW, my clan is full of ladies of all ages and types. We've got girls that are barely teenagers, along with quite a few women in their 40's, and everyone in-between.
So put a cork in it.
Well, we have a few hundred girls as members, so we seem to be doing fine recruiting new people. :) And it makes sure we're memorable that way!
Yes, the Frag Dolls were put together by UbiSoft, and the company does pay them to travel to various gaming-related conventions and shows. They do make media appearances and the like. And yes, they were at least partially picked for their attractiveness - though that was secondary to making sure they were all serious and GOOD gamers.
One of the Frag Dolls is also one of the co-founders of my clan, the PMS Clan, and a few more of them are members. They're not pretty faces that can barely play, they're all dead serious gamers that are quite skilled, and they're very much into promoting gaming as acceptable for girls.
What, you think that none of us are bothering to try and get involved in the industry? I can tell you for a fact that's not the case!