For certain kinds of sci/math operations, operator overloading is very helpful (complex numbers anyone"), and it's quite cumbersome to write and read the Complex C = a.Add(B), especially for longer equations.
I'm a big Nintendo fan, but I don't harbor any major illusions regarding Nintendo's control freak tendencies. To me, the major difference is that they have far fewer opportunities to abuse their position than the competition. They don't have other major product divisions (so no chances of a Blu-Ray or rootkit fiasco), nor do they have a horribly robust online service to try to get its tentacles into your life.
First off, Simplified and Traiditional characters are separated in Unicode.
Second off, Cyrillic characters and Latin characters have always been considered two different scripts, while Chinese logographs are considered to be the same script, used in different contexts.
Yes, that gets on my nerves as well. However, I heard that in the original French version, it is much worse. There, we get treated to individual penguins given their own voice actors, and some dialogue about waht they might be saying.
Thus, a bit of simple anthromorphization is probably a massive improvement.
First off, I am, sadly, not particularly suprised at this development, simply because I rather suspect these games have soundtracks that are most accessible to MTV's audience, and from the sorts of games they would be most likely to be playing anyhow.
This does not mean that I am not disappointed. After seeing increasing amounts of coverage and performance of more conventional video game soundtracks, I was under the impression that they had entered the mainstream far more than they actually have (for instance, Final Fantasy. I don't actually particularly like the music, but I certainly admit it is very well done, and has made amazing headway here). This shatters any of those preconceptions.
I've become a fan of two blogs about the Middle East recently, and especially now that I've got RSS feeds figured out.
http://www.juancole.com/ , or Informed Comment, is an excellent commentary on the Middle East in general from a professor well versed in Arabic and Islamic studies. He's very good at explaining the deeper culture issues behind different events.
http://www.livejournal.com/~collounsbury/ is another enjoyable web log on the Middle East from the point of view of a Risk Analyst. While the author is very abrasive and does not suffer fools at all, one eventually gets used to and enjoys the style and information available.
Both of these are professional blogs, more focused on giving their own perspective on issues than really examining how the media presents them.
I've actually worked to increase the number of users even more, though unfortunately it isn't going to show up here. I work at a technical support help desk on campus, and we often have users that come in with computers infested with spyware. After we remove the spyware, we've been installing Firefox on every machine, and instructing them about how one of the ways to avoid getting it in the first place (among other things) is to use an alternate browser. Unfortunately for this download statistic, we install from a CD for speed purposes (and so they don't need to have internet access when installing). Hopefully more widescale adoption should combat the tide of spyware!
Might I reccomend the Incredible Machine Contraptions? There is nothing remotely offensive about the game, it can be EASILY argued to have educational value (it's more or less a puzzle game, along with basic physics), and should be both cheap and easy on the computers.
I should try and work up something vaguely resembling sympathy for this company, but quite frankly, I find it impossible. They've had it coming for a long time, with the string of bad Army Men titles, and the implosion of the Might and Magic series, both of which are their own fault. 3DO serves as a perfect study for the case against firing the highly skilled designers and programmers in order to cut costs.
My heart does go out to those displaced by the meltdown though. I wish the industry was at the point where they could find work at somewhere with better treatment of their employees.
What about another very, very popular RPG maker in Japan, [P]http://www.falcom.com[/P] ? Maybe they'll get their stuff released over here someday, adding more competition to the market.
I believe that it is a very good idea to often change passwords, simply because if anyone found out without you knowing, they could access your data for QUITE some time. Generating new passwords is not difficult, there are several freeware programs that do a quite nice job of generating random passwords.
How exactly is this stupid? What rights exactly are violated by not allowing color copiers to be able to detect US Backnotes? How does this hurt your use of the machine?
Not necessarily. They could have gotten it because their parents had it, through a blood transfusion, through an infected injection of something, etc...
Nice sense of security, but no. You can.
Actually, in Oregon at least, they've been having trouble even breaking even on them. If their interest was purely financial, believe me, they'd try something else.
Many of their older games did. This includes the Indiana Jones game, the Zak McKraken game, and I'm sure there were far more... Day of the Tentacle did too, if I recall correctly.
Oh yes! Paying more money so people can download to their hearts desire on P2P all they want! Eventually, people will download more, the pipe will get filled up, and you'll be back where you started.
Many musicians do indeed want these laws, as they are unclear on how exactly the big picture will be affected. In their minds, it's simply stopping people from pirating their music.
Mind telling us how this is "against the will of God"? Mind telling us how your qualified to make such statements? Mind telling us why he should care in the least about your religious beliefs?
Why do you say this? Because he is offering adult entertainment, he is automatically deserving to be blamed for a virus sending spam-like e-mail to people?
Slashdot Mirror
For certain kinds of sci/math operations, operator overloading is very helpful (complex numbers anyone"), and it's quite cumbersome to write and read the Complex C = a.Add(B), especially for longer equations.
I'm a big Nintendo fan, but I don't harbor any major illusions regarding Nintendo's control freak tendencies. To me, the major difference is that they have far fewer opportunities to abuse their position than the competition. They don't have other major product divisions (so no chances of a Blu-Ray or rootkit fiasco), nor do they have a horribly robust online service to try to get its tentacles into your life.
This is untrue.
First off, Simplified and Traiditional characters are separated in Unicode.
Second off, Cyrillic characters and Latin characters have always been considered two different scripts, while Chinese logographs are considered to be the same script, used in different contexts.
See http://unicode.org/notes/tn26/.
In any event, it would make good sense for programming environments to be able to handle Unicode source.
I've had reasonably good luck with prepaid cards such as Visa giftcards. It's not quite one-time use, but has most of the same advantages.
Yes, that gets on my nerves as well. However, I heard that in the original French version, it is much worse. There, we get treated to individual penguins given their own voice actors, and some dialogue about waht they might be saying.
Thus, a bit of simple anthromorphization is probably a massive improvement.
What about making Top 100 X games of all time when riding through a slow news period? IGN is the most recent offender, but hardly the only one.
First off, I am, sadly, not particularly suprised at this development, simply because I rather suspect these games have soundtracks that are most accessible to MTV's audience, and from the sorts of games they would be most likely to be playing anyhow.
This does not mean that I am not disappointed. After seeing increasing amounts of coverage and performance of more conventional video game soundtracks, I was under the impression that they had entered the mainstream far more than they actually have (for instance, Final Fantasy. I don't actually particularly like the music, but I certainly admit it is very well done, and has made amazing headway here). This shatters any of those preconceptions.
I've become a fan of two blogs about the Middle East recently, and especially now that I've got RSS feeds figured out.
http://www.juancole.com/ , or Informed Comment, is an excellent commentary on the Middle East in general from a professor well versed in Arabic and Islamic studies. He's very good at explaining the deeper culture issues behind different events.
http://www.livejournal.com/~collounsbury/ is another enjoyable web log on the Middle East from the point of view of a Risk Analyst. While the author is very abrasive and does not suffer fools at all, one eventually gets used to and enjoys the style and information available.
Both of these are professional blogs, more focused on giving their own perspective on issues than really examining how the media presents them.
I've actually worked to increase the number of users even more, though unfortunately it isn't going to show up here. I work at a technical support help desk on campus, and we often have users that come in with computers infested with spyware. After we remove the spyware, we've been installing Firefox on every machine, and instructing them about how one of the ways to avoid getting it in the first place (among other things) is to use an alternate browser. Unfortunately for this download statistic, we install from a CD for speed purposes (and so they don't need to have internet access when installing). Hopefully more widescale adoption should combat the tide of spyware!
Might I reccomend the Incredible Machine Contraptions? There is nothing remotely offensive about the game, it can be EASILY argued to have educational value (it's more or less a puzzle game, along with basic physics), and should be both cheap and easy on the computers.
I should try and work up something vaguely resembling sympathy for this company, but quite frankly, I find it impossible. They've had it coming for a long time, with the string of bad Army Men titles, and the implosion of the Might and Magic series, both of which are their own fault. 3DO serves as a perfect study for the case against firing the highly skilled designers and programmers in order to cut costs.
My heart does go out to those displaced by the meltdown though. I wish the industry was at the point where they could find work at somewhere with better treatment of their employees.
What about another very, very popular RPG maker in Japan, [P]http://www.falcom.com[/P] ? Maybe they'll get their stuff released over here someday, adding more competition to the market.
I believe that it is a very good idea to often change passwords, simply because if anyone found out without you knowing, they could access your data for QUITE some time. Generating new passwords is not difficult, there are several freeware programs that do a quite nice job of generating random passwords.
How exactly is this stupid? What rights exactly are violated by not allowing color copiers to be able to detect US Backnotes? How does this hurt your use of the machine?
Not necessarily. They could have gotten it because their parents had it, through a blood transfusion, through an infected injection of something, etc... Nice sense of security, but no. You can.
Cite? This is a rather popular myth, and in fact, Nintendo and Sony are NOT losing money from their consoles.
Actually, in Oregon at least, they've been having trouble even breaking even on them. If their interest was purely financial, believe me, they'd try something else.
Many of their older games did. This includes the Indiana Jones game, the Zak McKraken game, and I'm sure there were far more... Day of the Tentacle did too, if I recall correctly.
Hey! Some of us are proud of being sissies!!!
Oh yes. THAT was tasteful of you.
Oh yes! Paying more money so people can download to their hearts desire on P2P all they want! Eventually, people will download more, the pipe will get filled up, and you'll be back where you started.
Of course! Don't try to stop those people from downloading MP3s on a school connection, just pay more so they have faster speeds! How selfish we are!
Many musicians do indeed want these laws, as they are unclear on how exactly the big picture will be affected. In their minds, it's simply stopping people from pirating their music.
Mind telling us how this is "against the will of God"? Mind telling us how your qualified to make such statements? Mind telling us why he should care in the least about your religious beliefs?
Why do you say this? Because he is offering adult entertainment, he is automatically deserving to be blamed for a virus sending spam-like e-mail to people?