With The Sims Online, Wright believes the community will form in a way similar to the one formed around Slashdot.org, the popular technology news site. "There's no central editor on Slashdot, but it's a collection of readers who have evolved it into a great site for news."
Yep, I found it quite interesting - yeah, it has all the staple elements of any Final Fantasy game, but that one also had some interesting twists and turns. I would give the story a 7/10.
I forgot Chrono Trigger too - i'd give that one about the same.
These games stories could have been a lot better, but they lost a lot in the translation. FFV on the playstation had that problem too - the free translation on the Internet was actually better.
(Town/Family killed, start self discovery, find other chacaters, more self discovery, have conflicting love interests, get close to figuring self out, discover some relationship to "Big Enemy", play through self doubt sequence, discover mentor, resolve love interest when somone makes a sacrifice, fight "Big Enemy", win for a bit, "Big Enemy" reveals "True Self", get real close to losing, defeat "Big Enemy", listen to "Big Enemy" make inspiring final speech, game end.)
Dear Mr. S Dragon,
I represent the lawfirm of Felkirk, Anwyn, Kirk, and Enderson. On behalf of our client, SQUARE ENIX, we demand that you cease and desist your blatant copyright infringement by no longer publishing details of the entire plotline of "DragonFantasy 12 - The Widget of Destruction."
Failure to do so will result in immediate legal action.
Sincerely, I. M. Knotalawyer
Felkirk, Anwyn, Kirk, and Enderson 123 Dick Hertz, Anytown, USA 90210
Final Fantasy VI Baldur's Gate series Dragon Warrior IV Ultima IV (and the whole series in general is pretty good) Final Fantasy Tactics (borderline good) Fallout 2 (Never played the first one, heard it was good)
And, of course, the best plot in any game *ever*...
Planescape: Torment
Unfortunately, games are a different storytelling environment and inevitably it degrades into "collect seven stars of wonder and defeat the hooded foozle" - the trick is to have that and a good plot. There are more I haven't mentioned - this is just off the top of my head.
It's basically just like movies and books - some are awesome (Torment == LOTR), some are good (Fallout 2 == Neuromancer), and some are just bad (Some shitty cookie cutter star wars book == the latest final fantasy cookie cutter game -> fun to play/read but hardly groundbreaking)
(Note: My comments are my own - opinions about games are simply that - opinions, so don't flame me cuz I dissed Star Wars or Final Fantasy)
We exploit them to create these devices and pollute their country when we are finished with them. I really despise what the world has become, despite all the wonderful advances we have made. I hope this is just a speedbump in our progress as human beings.
No, basically you refuted his opinion with "facts" which you failed to back up as well. Essentially making yourself an ignoramus/liar as well.
Instead of trolling me, why don't you say why my fact is wrong? Others have indicated that the original poster may have meant the EULA, not a "feature" of the operating system, which would indeed mean that I was wrong (in that I confused the issue).
BTW, how should I back up my fact? A dissertation to prove that you can turn off auto-updating in windows? Should I provide photographs and an affidavit from the original Microsoft engineer that implemented the feature? It's a fucking checkbox and an option group in windows xp, not a statement based on an epidemiological study. It's like asking me to back up a statement like "the sun rises every day."
If someone publicly holds an opinion and it is (partially) based on ignorance, then others can and should step in to correct it. The poster did not say "in my opinion, windows sucks because they put the shutdown option in the start menu and I would rather have a dock than a taskbar" - the poster said that windows sucks because he/she had a set of unfavourable yet unique experiences and I merely pointed out that unique experiences are not good enough grounds to rate something. I was also speaking of comments like this in general, not simply trying to "refute" the original poster.
You could just take the modified version right back, and profit from it yourself!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be more like "yeah, I used your source code in this software I am selling and no, I'm not releasing the source code" then they are violating the GPL and there would be nothing the original authors could do without copyright law.
Don't get me wrong, there are problems with copyright, but I view it as ultimately necessary (though not in it's current form).
Hell, even with copyright laws there are examples of people abusing the GPL (no specific ones handy, but don't just take my word for it - check google or something:) so without copyright it would have even less protection against abuses.
Thankfully that's not where everyone's at. My parents need their email, a little word processing, and that's it. And if console games keep getting better (and offering network play), it may finally come to pass that gamers have their console and their word machine and never the twain shall meet.
Or perhaps, eventually, console systems will feature word processors, email, and other such consumer grade applications, and the computer (in the classical sense) will again become something used at work and by hobbyists. If all of the major players (sony, nintendo, uhm... atari, etc:) pushed for an open document formats, it could happen. Consoles are all about simplicity, usability, and (relative) affordability - combine that with the kinds of computing tasks an average user wants, and they could change things.
That's the kind of thing that could put a business like Microsoft *out* of business. Maybe that's a small part of why Microsoft is trying to break into the living room - the eventual combination of all the disparate technologies in an average users life.
(yes, I know console technically == computer, but I think everyone knows what I mean)
(Yes, I also know this has been argued to death - I'm not claiming to have come up with these ideas:)
... it's time to put Longhorn on the fast track to release. Nothing stimulates the hardware industry like a new, even more piggish release of Windows with plenty of "new features to make Windows even easier to use"!
The only reason to upgrade is obsolescence. Eventually your PC will wear out and you will have to buy a new one.
My in-laws are still using a PII and it suits them just fine. Same goes for operating systems - it's only due to forced obsolescence that they will eventually move off of Windows98. (ie/ when they eventually buy new hardware, no support for it in win98 will mean new OS)
<dons tinfoil hat>Perhaps this is why hardware life expectancy is steadily decreasing?</dons tinfoil hat>
Oh, c'mon! We know that somebody just photoshopped all those frames and strung them together in an AVI. An obvious forgery!
(Seriously though, thanks for the link! It's interesting to see it in action - seems rather sluggish, but it's an alpha so we shouldn't comment on that... yet) - Looks better than XP (i run in classic mode) though, which is good, cuz xp is UGLY
Not only that but we are now adding pictures of OTHER PEOPLE [winsupersite.com] to Windows?
It's for those of us that leave the families in picture frames because they're more attractive than our own families - for example, they tend to have all their teeth.
An analog clock? I thought Windows was supposed to be easy to use! What are they thinking? (yes, that was a joke).
And the funny part is that, as it is still digital, it will lose a lot of time as all timers on computers tend to do (synch features notwithstanding).
Geez guy, way to strawman me. I only said that we shouldn't feel sorry for Napster, a company that (arguably) made money by helping others violate copyright.
a)We are aware of actually how much money it takes to create a cd. We all have cd burners, and know how cheap the media is. Many of us even have friends that have their own hobbled-together studios, and can record their music in their basement. We know that we are getting totally and utterly ripped off if we buy a cd.
This is no different than the current garment industry. People pay premium for a swoosh on their track pants, some woman in indonesia gets screwed, and Phillip Knight laughs all the way to the bank. But nobody seems to give a shit. I find it hilarious that everyone here gets mad at the MPAA/RIAA when we have companies that are screwing millions just so we can have our coffee, our oil, and our Levi's.
b)We know that the artist will most likely hardly see a dime anyway. We've watched enough VH1 behind the music to know that even the most successful stars in the most popular music can wind up owing their record label money, unless they throw a tantrum and acquire a new contract. We know that the artists are getting ripped off, too.
Yes, that's why I hope big media dies. But it won't because nobody cares. Fuck, I don't care - compared to the injustice that other companies dish out it's small potatoes.
c)We know that we aren't actually taking something physical. We are copying an arrangement of bits in a file into a replication on our computer. There is no cost to the company. There is only the supposed lack of profit, which assumes that we would have paid for the album just to hear that one song we downloaded. We are aware that Radiohead "released" Kid A on Napster before it was in stores, and that people went out and made it a collossal best seller. It had no marketing campaign to speak of. The only marketing used was word of mouth from people who had downloaded it.We understand the difference between music downloading and theft, and we aren't afraid to pay for music worth paying for.
Nobody used the t word. I did not say anybody was stealing. I said they were violating copyright. Big difference, though a lot of people gloss over it. I didn't in my post. Incidently, if Radiohead released Kid A on napster, one could arguably say that the people downloading it were not violating copyright (that is, if Radiohead owns the copyrights to their music) - bad example. In any case, if the copyright holder says "do not distribute my content" you are violating copyright and are (arguably) a criminal - end of story, whether it ultimately helps them or not.
d)We respect musicians. We don't really care if the day of super-millionaire pop-stars disappears. What we want to see is musicians with websites, where you can just pay them directly, per song, and support who you listen to, without the huge, outdated, corrupt, technophobic, greedy, bloated middleman that is the music industry. We will wait to support the artist, but we will not stop listening to music.
That's essentially what I said. Seriously, did you even read my post?
I love these threads - nothing like passing off an opinion as fact and backing it up with an anecdote or lies and/or ignorance (not just the parents - I mean in general, though in this case, there are no forced updates in Windows XP - default is on (which is good for the rest of us, considering how an ordinary user never thinks about security patches) but it is easily turned off).
I hear the same arguments against all the operating systems (Jaguar is too slow, XP is too flaky, Suse won't work with my display driver, etc) and it's just convinced me to quit listening:)
I personally have had problems with every Linux distro and Windows version I have ever tried except for Windows XP (approx 1 year w/o any crashes - no uptime to speak of because I shut it down at night due to noise:) - but I am quite certain that a number of people have never had problems with different distros or Windows versions and can't get XP to run for them (or it crashes constantly or whatever).
Unless someone actually quantifies this information, it's pointless.
Os benchmarks on comparable hardware, on the other hand, actually mean something but hardly ever get published.
Information on os security is also readily available, although security is subject to the skill of the admin as well, so it's hard to evaluate purely on technical merits as well (ie/ I would trust a Windows box managed by a competent admin much more than a Linux box managed by some dumbass).
Yes, I hate the RIAA and it's ilk. Yes, I hate the way they have dragged their feet with online options. I hate the way they have been pushing copy-protected cd's and I hate the industry in general. I hope it does die and a bunch of smaller labels rise from the ashes - ones that don't buy the souls of the artists that help make them money.
But that doesn't excuse Napster. They were a corporation, not an activist group - they made money by helping people violate copyright. Yes, I am aware that many people used Napster to trade non-copyrighted music - but for the most part, it was all the stuff that is being sold in stores right now (right then).
And to those of you that think that we should be able to just violate copyright because we don't like the content controllers, well, then fuck the GPL, right? Let's just use someone elses work for profit there too!
I was watching porn, on the laptop and it was like "oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh, oh, oh" And then, like, half of my penis was scorched And I was like... nhu? I *burned* my penis It was a really good penis And then I had to put some ointment on it fast and now it doesn't work so good It's kind of... a bummer
Nanotech has a solid theoretical grounding, but no-one has the faintest idea how to go about building a truth machine. That makes the idea ultrasoft SF, or science fantasy. The concept is flawed anyway because people can lie to themselves, and statements can be ambiguous, context-dependent or partly true.
You're absolutely right. Note I didn't say the book was awesome or groundbreaking, just that it got you thinking:)
From an Amazon customer review the author sounds like some kind of naive, reactionary, elitist snob.
He is. So is Robert J Sawyer, in many ways. Well, RJS isn't quite naive, but my girlfriend met him, and by her judgment he is an elitist snob.
In any case, a truth machine, in a fashion, is possible. Imagine a world where your every action is recorded and analysed. Premeditated crime would become much harder. Course, this vision of the future swings back to 1984 territory...
Obviously, this would do no good against crimes of passion (reminds me of Minority Report) but it raises a whole host of arguments - namely, do we even deserve privacy? I know Robert J Sawyer is arguing against privacy (Hominids, haven't read it yet though)... As well as Scott McNealy ("You have zero privacy anyway... Get over it.")
Of course, what about things like your medical history or even your genetic potential? Meh, I could go on for hours, but I won't:)
Slashdot Mirror
They're doing it in my neck of the woods already.
:|
Not a non-IE friendly site, though
He must be thinking of Kuro5hin...
*ducks*
best...sig-link ... ever
*falls off chair laughing hysterically*
Yep, I found it quite interesting - yeah, it has all the staple elements of any Final Fantasy game, but that one also had some interesting twists and turns. I would give the story a 7/10.
I forgot Chrono Trigger too - i'd give that one about the same.
These games stories could have been a lot better, but they lost a lot in the translation. FFV on the playstation had that problem too - the free translation on the Internet was actually better.
Dear Mr. S Dragon,
I represent the lawfirm of Felkirk, Anwyn, Kirk, and Enderson. On behalf of our client, SQUARE ENIX, we demand that you cease and desist your blatant copyright infringement by no longer publishing details of the entire plotline of "DragonFantasy 12 - The Widget of Destruction."
Failure to do so will result in immediate legal action.
Sincerely,
I. M. Knotalawyer
Felkirk, Anwyn, Kirk, and Enderson
123 Dick Hertz,
Anytown, USA
90210
True, but not always.
Games with good plots:
Final Fantasy VI
Baldur's Gate series
Dragon Warrior IV
Ultima IV (and the whole series in general is pretty good)
Final Fantasy Tactics (borderline good)
Fallout 2 (Never played the first one, heard it was good)
And, of course, the best plot in any game *ever*...
Planescape: Torment
Unfortunately, games are a different storytelling environment and inevitably it degrades into "collect seven stars of wonder and defeat the hooded foozle" - the trick is to have that and a good plot. There are more I haven't mentioned - this is just off the top of my head.
It's basically just like movies and books - some are awesome (Torment == LOTR), some are good (Fallout 2 == Neuromancer), and some are just bad (Some shitty cookie cutter star wars book == the latest final fantasy cookie cutter game -> fun to play/read but hardly groundbreaking)
(Note: My comments are my own - opinions about games are simply that - opinions, so don't flame me cuz I dissed Star Wars or Final Fantasy)
We exploit them to create these devices and pollute their country when we are finished with them. I really despise what the world has become, despite all the wonderful advances we have made. I hope this is just a speedbump in our progress as human beings.
Couldn't a $99 USD palm work for your needs?
I personally have no use for PDA's (or even cell phones) so maybe it's a horribly flawed device, but it seems to fit the bill here...
Instead of trolling me, why don't you say why my fact is wrong? Others have indicated that the original poster may have meant the EULA, not a "feature" of the operating system, which would indeed mean that I was wrong (in that I confused the issue).
BTW, how should I back up my fact? A dissertation to prove that you can turn off auto-updating in windows? Should I provide photographs and an affidavit from the original Microsoft engineer that implemented the feature? It's a fucking checkbox and an option group in windows xp, not a statement based on an epidemiological study. It's like asking me to back up a statement like "the sun rises every day."
If someone publicly holds an opinion and it is (partially) based on ignorance, then others can and should step in to correct it. The poster did not say "in my opinion, windows sucks because they put the shutdown option in the start menu and I would rather have a dock than a taskbar" - the poster said that windows sucks because he/she had a set of unfavourable yet unique experiences and I merely pointed out that unique experiences are not good enough grounds to rate something. I was also speaking of comments like this in general, not simply trying to "refute" the original poster.
Bah, why do I let myself get trolled like this?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be more like "yeah, I used your source code in this software I am selling and no, I'm not releasing the source code" then they are violating the GPL and there would be nothing the original authors could do without copyright law.
Don't get me wrong, there are problems with copyright, but I view it as ultimately necessary (though not in it's current form).
Hell, even with copyright laws there are examples of people abusing the GPL (no specific ones handy, but don't just take my word for it - check google or something
Wait, is this a troll?
Or perhaps, eventually, console systems will feature word processors, email, and other such consumer grade applications, and the computer (in the classical sense) will again become something used at work and by hobbyists. If all of the major players (sony, nintendo, uhm... atari, etc
That's the kind of thing that could put a business like Microsoft *out* of business. Maybe that's a small part of why Microsoft is trying to break into the living room - the eventual combination of all the disparate technologies in an average users life.
(yes, I know console technically == computer, but I think everyone knows what I mean)
(Yes, I also know this has been argued to death - I'm not claiming to have come up with these ideas
Same shit, different OS.
My in-laws are still using a PII and it suits them just fine. Same goes for operating systems - it's only due to forced obsolescence that they will eventually move off of Windows98. (ie/ when they eventually buy new hardware, no support for it in win98 will mean new OS)
Oh, c'mon! We know that somebody just photoshopped all those frames and strung them together in an AVI. An obvious forgery!
(Seriously though, thanks for the link! It's interesting to see it in action - seems rather sluggish, but it's an alpha so we shouldn't comment on that... yet) - Looks better than XP (i run in classic mode) though, which is good, cuz xp is UGLY
It's for those of us that leave the families in picture frames because they're more attractive than our own families - for example, they tend to have all their teeth.
And the funny part is that, as it is still digital, it will lose a lot of time as all timers on computers tend to do (synch features notwithstanding).
What part of IMO ("in my opinion") did you not understand? Please clarify.
I wrote that I was talking about these types of posts in general and then elaborated that the parent in particular was guilty of ignorance/lying.
Facts take precedence over opinion.
This is no different than the current garment industry. People pay premium for a swoosh on their track pants, some woman in indonesia gets screwed, and Phillip Knight laughs all the way to the bank. But nobody seems to give a shit. I find it hilarious that everyone here gets mad at the MPAA/RIAA when we have companies that are screwing millions just so we can have our coffee, our oil, and our Levi's.
Yes, that's why I hope big media dies. But it won't because nobody cares. Fuck, I don't care - compared to the injustice that other companies dish out it's small potatoes.
Nobody used the t word. I did not say anybody was stealing. I said they were violating copyright. Big difference, though a lot of people gloss over it. I didn't in my post. Incidently, if Radiohead released Kid A on napster, one could arguably say that the people downloading it were not violating copyright (that is, if Radiohead owns the copyrights to their music) - bad example. In any case, if the copyright holder says "do not distribute my content" you are violating copyright and are (arguably) a criminal - end of story, whether it ultimately helps them or not.
That's essentially what I said. Seriously, did you even read my post?
I love these threads - nothing like passing off an opinion as fact and backing it up with an anecdote or lies and/or ignorance (not just the parents - I mean in general, though in this case, there are no forced updates in Windows XP - default is on (which is good for the rest of us, considering how an ordinary user never thinks about security patches) but it is easily turned off).
:)
:) - but I am quite certain that a number of people have never had problems with different distros or Windows versions and can't get XP to run for them (or it crashes constantly or whatever).
I hear the same arguments against all the operating systems (Jaguar is too slow, XP is too flaky, Suse won't work with my display driver, etc) and it's just convinced me to quit listening
I personally have had problems with every Linux distro and Windows version I have ever tried except for Windows XP (approx 1 year w/o any crashes - no uptime to speak of because I shut it down at night due to noise
Unless someone actually quantifies this information, it's pointless.
Os benchmarks on comparable hardware, on the other hand, actually mean something but hardly ever get published.
Information on os security is also readily available, although security is subject to the skill of the admin as well, so it's hard to evaluate purely on technical merits as well (ie/ I would trust a Windows box managed by a competent admin much more than a Linux box managed by some dumbass).
Actually they forgot 2 and 4.
(don't say it)
2) ???
(I said don't say it)
4) Profit!
(Great, he said it. Mod his ass DOWN!)
Yes, I hate the RIAA and it's ilk. Yes, I hate the way they have dragged their feet with online options. I hate the way they have been pushing copy-protected cd's and I hate the industry in general. I hope it does die and a bunch of smaller labels rise from the ashes - ones that don't buy the souls of the artists that help make them money.
But that doesn't excuse Napster. They were a corporation, not an activist group - they made money by helping people violate copyright. Yes, I am aware that many people used Napster to trade non-copyrighted music - but for the most part, it was all the stuff that is being sold in stores right now (right then).
And to those of you that think that we should be able to just violate copyright because we don't like the content controllers, well, then fuck the GPL, right? Let's just use someone elses work for profit there too!
Six sections, actually.
I believe you can buy editions where all six are separated too, though I am not certain.
oh, btw...
Dude, you've got blisters on your johnson!
(for anyone wondering which brand was responsible for the toasted twig)
(posted at +1 cuz it's kinda redundant as it's in the register link and it may not even be the right one)
I was watching porn, on the laptop ... nhu? ... a bummer
and it was like "oh, oh oh, oh oh, oh, oh, oh"
And then, like, half of my penis was scorched
And I was like
I *burned* my penis
It was a really good penis
And then I had to put some ointment on it fast
and now it doesn't work so good
It's kind of
You're absolutely right. Note I didn't say the book was awesome or groundbreaking, just that it got you thinking
He is. So is Robert J Sawyer, in many ways. Well, RJS isn't quite naive, but my girlfriend met him, and by her judgment he is an elitist snob.
In any case, a truth machine, in a fashion, is possible. Imagine a world where your every action is recorded and analysed. Premeditated crime would become much harder. Course, this vision of the future swings back to 1984 territory...
Obviously, this would do no good against crimes of passion (reminds me of Minority Report) but it raises a whole host of arguments - namely, do we even deserve privacy? I know Robert J Sawyer is arguing against privacy (Hominids, haven't read it yet though)... As well as Scott McNealy ("You have zero privacy anyway... Get over it.")
Of course, what about things like your medical history or even your genetic potential? Meh, I could go on for hours, but I won't
What's with all the posts mentioning the interviewer hinting at the location of the spammer's home address getting modded up?
I have never seen such a gross misuse of moderation privileges. You should all be ashamed of yourself! *wags finger*