What kind of user base, though? A highly-specialised user base with a ton of cash to spare and who are interested in Linux? Linux has a relatively small market share as it is (compared with Windoze), although certainly early adaptors are included in this group. -1 Incoherent, sorry;)
Sasktel is the shiznat. Like I posted under another story, I'm getting 1.5/128 DSL for $45, and that's completely unlimited. I've downloaded over 20gigs in one month (um, linux images, yeah...), no complaints. Upload speed is a bit slow, which makes it difficult to be a server (which is prohibited in TOS anyway), but other than that I'm as happy as a pig in mud (I thought an appropriate Saskatchewan/farming metaphor would work well here).
Access Communications is the same price for a static IP, but their ping times are horrible. It's slower playing UT2003 against a mate in the city who's got Access than it is to the rest of NA - go figure!
They claim it's 5x faster than 56k dialup, for $19 a month. In Saskatchewan, we've got 128/128 DSL through the phone company for $21 a month. Hmm, broadband-like or *real* broadband for $2 more? (Never mind me, tho - I'm on 1.5/128 for $45:) )
Re: hate speech - I have no idea what the heck I was talking about (I was probably thinking about a case in Ontario where a professor was being brought up on criminal charges for hate speech), but I can't find anything that supports my earlier claim that hate speech in the US is a crime; it's protected by the First Amendment, right?
The thing that disturbs me is how much the US has changed since 9/11. Let me give you an example: my mom's American, and her relatives live in Oregon (my parents live in BC). The whole gang of American relatives decided to travel from Salem to Seattle for a soccer game. My mom asked if they wanted to come up to Vancouver to visit (from Seattle it's a three or four hour drive), and they refused. Do you want to know why? "Canada isn't supporting the war in Iraq."
These are my relatives we're talking about, and fairly bright people too -- one of my uncles has his Masters in history, the other a Bachelors in comp sci, and my grandpa has his doctorate. They've been to Canada before; they know it's not a scary place. And yet, when they turn on the TV every night and get fed propaganda that Canada is a harbour for terrorists, and Canada doesn't support the war in Iraq, and on and on and on...
And then I'm pissed off about Arar being deported and tortured, and then Colin Powell saying that it wasn't their fault. The people in Guantanimo Bay are being held as prisoners of war when the war is over. Bush sneering at the world, saying "If you didn't help destroy Iraq, you don't get to help rebuild it."
The bill of rights may protect US citizens, but who's going to protect the rest of us? It's like living with a gun to your head - "Snap in line or we'll invade you too." Because what, we didn't want to go to war? It's ridiculous.
You can't have this perspective. You don't know what it's like. And I have no idea what it's like to be an American, either, how you guys can know that these things are going on and wonder what is happening in your country. Canada's not perfect either, but at least we're not deporting US citizens to Serbia to be tortured or detaining foreign nationals indefinitely. What makes me worried is the US acting unilaterally in instances like this, and there's nobody to keep them in check.
How we've come to this from a discussion about Manhunt, I have no idea. Anyway, Acidic, you don't deserve the sarcasm or anything that was pointed at you earlier. Sorry.
Bottom line: in my opinion, games like this shouldn't be played by kids, and both parents and gov't need to do as much as possible to keep games like this out of their hands. This includes controls on advertisements and placing games out of sight in game retailers/rental outlets. As for adults, whatever. I don't exactly approve, but I wouldn't dream of doing anything to prevent them from playing it.
"But if you actively pursue activities to prevent other people from making things available that I might enjoy because you think your morals are the standard by which all others should live, then you're just an asshole."
I was going to agree with you all the way until the "asshole" bit:) I don't try to stop people from playing anything; I don't know where you got that impression. I'd like to stop kids from playing games like this, but I'm not about to go out and join some sort of organisation to do so.
yes, I object to the game, but on the other hand it's just a video game. It might be disturbing, but it's not hurting anybody. There's no conclusive proof that such a game wouldn't encourage little kids to become murderers, though, which is why I wish the game didn't exist (too tempting, easy enough for anybody to get the game, etc. etc.) Note that this is not the same as actively discouraging people from buying the game or retailers from stocking it.
"It's important to look at the game within its narrative context, otherwise all the discussion is pointless."
Not necessarily; you can choose to object to the whole narrative too. If I created a video game where the player had to rape as many little girls as possible, but only because s/he would be raped if they didn't, would that make it an acceptable game?
Hate crimes - you're not allowed to write, say, or do anything that discriminates against another person. Don't you think that this goes against your whole "freedom of speech" idea?
Let's talk about Maher Arar for a second. He is a Canadian citizen who travelled into the US on a Canadian passport. Without any due process or notification, he was deported to Syria where he was tortured for a year. Why? Because the US suspected he was a terrorist. They didn't have any proof at all. Let me remind you that this was a CANADIAN who was sent there. This is US justice? After *that*, I can't take seriously any American who uses the phrase "prisoner of war."
I don't actually have anything against Bush himself; he seems like a good president. However, some of his government's policies right now are seriously screwed up. I wouldn't call the US a fascist state, but some of the policies and procedures that the US is implementing right now is very, very close to pre-WWII Italy and Germany. Can't you stop waving your flag for a few seconds to take a look at what's going on in your country?
One last thing: the civilians being held in Guantanimo were *not* actively fighting your troops - they are suspected terrorists not being charged with a crime, but being held as material witnesses. This is a gross violation of US judicial law.
If you choose to play the game then you're forced to murder. I agree that it's up to parents - if they would watch the games that their kids play, then there might not be any need for gov't regulation.
"So which are you supporting? Removing the game from store shelves completely or preventing children from gaining access to it?"
There was a discussion a while ago on/. about this topic - I agreed with the idea that adult/mature vid games should be kept in a back room, a la porn at the local video store. No sight, no access. If a kid decides to pirate a game, well, nobody except his parents can do anything about that.
Beyond that, I also think that advertisements for such games should be severely limited. Do you remember way back when the advertisement for Quarantine? White page, a windshield wiper washing off blood. It was enough for people to get the point, but younger kids who saw it wouldn't connect the (boring) ad to a violent game. All these gory ads for Manhunt are just going to encourage kids to play the game.
"as soon as you start deciding what types of speech can and cannot be free, you're no longer allowing free speech... You don't get to pick and choose what people are allowed to say if speech is free."
By your own definition, then, the US does not allow free speech. Ever heard of hate crimes? Guantamino bay for the "terrorists" who say the wrong thing? No, your culture definitely does not advocate free speech. You're right, though, it isn't a little fucked up -- it's a *lot* fucked up.
We meet again, Acidic Diarrhea. (devilish laugh) You also live in a country where peodiphiles can write about thirteen year old girls in sexual situations and have it protected by free speech. You live in a country where people can write about snuff fantasies and it's protected by free speech. Maybe US-style free speech is just a little fucked up?
I liked Silence of the Lambs; it wasn't about gratuitous murder. You say that movies are a "passive" medium, and that's exactly why the movies that you described are acceptable, whereas games like Manhunt should not exist. I can sit in my seat and absolutely hate everything that Lecter does, but when I'm playing a game where I'm forced to decapitate, strangle, and brutalise other individuals, then I have no choice but to become involved in that world.
Sure, you can play violent vid games, but do you support the right of a ten year old playing this game?
I play GTA and Vice city, CS, Call to Duty, all the way back to Wolfie 3d. Fine for adults, sure, but kids shouldn't be playing this, period.
Ya, it *does* seem a bit over the line. GTA was fun because you could do whatever you wanted to in any given city; being forced to execute people in photo-realisic glory is somewhat scary. No way in hell kids under 18 should play this game; hell, I doubt *anybody* should. Perhaps games like this just shouldn't have been made?
The equivalent to what you're describing in the computer/music industry is called "counterfeiting." Levy or not, it is illegal, and the Man *will* bust you for it. OT, I know, but just to keep things in perspective with the topic at hand...
I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to say about this. I mean, the book hasn't been released yet, so we haven't read it, which means that this is pretty much an advertisement for a product.
Not that I'm pissed; I've got it on preorder from Amazon as we speak:)
Actually, this is great news. If I fire up eDonkey and get busted for downloading (yeah, that's going to happen in my lifetime), I've now got a bulletproof excuse: look how much money I'm paying on these levies! I'm paying these levies because copyright holders are asserting that I'm a pirate, correct?
Unless these levies are punitive, they're pretty much an excuse to pirate whatever I want to online.
Of course, this is all purely hypothetical, as I have *never* pirated anything...
Should car companies sue Rockstar because GTA and VC take well-known cars, give them a different game, then allow players to bash them up in the streets? Should gun makers sue Rockstar for giving them a bad image?
When I played VC, I *never* once thought, "hey, those haitians, they're pretty bloodthursty!" And you wanna know why? Cuz it's a GAME, not a how-to guide or a travel brochure!
I have serious inner-ear problems, which cause the problems mentioned in my post. Blackouts, extreme nausea, headaches... all of these are a result of my fucked up ear.
"The sensation of balance has absolutely nothing to do with g-forces." True enough - but how do you think that game designers would implement +-G turns using these electrodes? My point is not G-forces, but the whole concept of messing around with only one part of the body, esp. for a game.
"All [electrodes] could do is make you think you are upside down." Or spin you in circles for a few seconds, or make you believe you're repeatedly climbing and diving; could you imagine the havoc this would play on the body? Your ear is telling you that you're climbing, whereas the rest of your body thinks that it's not. Hello projectile vomiting.
AFAIK only gravity can cause red or black outs, yes, but go back and read my post - I'm talking about nausea, not the actual implementation of +-G forces. Such electrodes could cause nausea, right? Therefore I stand by my statement: "If people start associating nausea with video games, the industry is hooped."
BTW, if you're going to troll, don't apologise; leap into the art of trolling, my friend. You've got a good start here, congrats.
If people start associating nausea with video games, the industry is hooped. Imagine the "realistic" sensations applied to your inner ear while pulling a 5+g turn in IL-2 Sturmovik... yeah, that's going to make people want to go back for more.
In reality, if somebody's shot down in an airplane, it's okay for them to have a screaming headache and red out because they're about to freaking die. In a video game, it's nice to just watch the pretty pixels pass by before you crater.
I got the camera body and a 50mm 1.8d lens for for $300 USD; it's $50 more than the 28-80 that comes bundled, but the 50mm is extremely sharp and turns out terrific-looking shots, great for both indoors and outdoors.
...popups and all manner of buggy annoyances... Slammer storm and other nasties that have jammed the web for the past 2 years thanks to XP...
Are you kidding? Killing popups is as easy as selecting an option in Opera. Messenger popups are a simple registry hack. Avoiding slammer is as easy as turning off HTML e-mail and keeping your system up to date.
These are not ridiculously difficult hacks. I *wish* MS paid me cash to push their products. Seriously, you need to start taking your meds and lay off the FUD.
T40: Great machine, absolutely fantastic. Everything you want in a laptop. Cons: it's expensive.
Inspiron 8600: Pretty good, not as great performance or battery-life wise, but if you're going to be using the computer plugged in a lot then this is negligible. Cost is sig. lower than T40.
Dunno about the HPaq, but if you've ever bought a computer from HP or Compaq then you know what to do: back away slowly and reach for your cross.
Re:To easy to turn around.
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PC Annoyances
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You're absolutely right. Sorry for trying to deceive you. My other username, BillGates, just gets flamed way too often.
Dude, how exactly is WinXP buggy? I can go from power off to my desktop in under 10 seconds. I don't have crashes, don't have slowdown, don't have software conflicts, and certainly don't have to bother with glib or java dependencies any more. I've got a student copy of WinXP from 2001 which costs less than the last three updates for OSX (Microsoft updates for free) and is much more stable IMHO than Mandrake 9.0 or Redhat 8.0. $140 CAD for an OS for two years and counting. How is this a bad deal?
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What kind of user base, though? A highly-specialised user base with a ton of cash to spare and who are interested in Linux? Linux has a relatively small market share as it is (compared with Windoze), although certainly early adaptors are included in this group. -1 Incoherent, sorry ;)
I haven't gotten that far in the series you insensitive clod!
Access Communications is the same price for a static IP, but their ping times are horrible. It's slower playing UT2003 against a mate in the city who's got Access than it is to the rest of NA - go figure!
Good gravy! What do you need with that much bandwidth :)
They claim it's 5x faster than 56k dialup, for $19 a month. In Saskatchewan, we've got 128/128 DSL through the phone company for $21 a month. Hmm, broadband-like or *real* broadband for $2 more? (Never mind me, tho - I'm on 1.5/128 for $45 :) )
Spoken like a true golf addict :) It's actually "The proof of the pudding is in the tasting."
The thing that disturbs me is how much the US has changed since 9/11. Let me give you an example: my mom's American, and her relatives live in Oregon (my parents live in BC). The whole gang of American relatives decided to travel from Salem to Seattle for a soccer game. My mom asked if they wanted to come up to Vancouver to visit (from Seattle it's a three or four hour drive), and they refused. Do you want to know why? "Canada isn't supporting the war in Iraq."
These are my relatives we're talking about, and fairly bright people too -- one of my uncles has his Masters in history, the other a Bachelors in comp sci, and my grandpa has his doctorate. They've been to Canada before; they know it's not a scary place. And yet, when they turn on the TV every night and get fed propaganda that Canada is a harbour for terrorists, and Canada doesn't support the war in Iraq, and on and on and on...
And then I'm pissed off about Arar being deported and tortured, and then Colin Powell saying that it wasn't their fault. The people in Guantanimo Bay are being held as prisoners of war when the war is over. Bush sneering at the world, saying "If you didn't help destroy Iraq, you don't get to help rebuild it."
The bill of rights may protect US citizens, but who's going to protect the rest of us? It's like living with a gun to your head - "Snap in line or we'll invade you too." Because what, we didn't want to go to war? It's ridiculous.
You can't have this perspective. You don't know what it's like. And I have no idea what it's like to be an American, either, how you guys can know that these things are going on and wonder what is happening in your country. Canada's not perfect either, but at least we're not deporting US citizens to Serbia to be tortured or detaining foreign nationals indefinitely. What makes me worried is the US acting unilaterally in instances like this, and there's nobody to keep them in check.
How we've come to this from a discussion about Manhunt, I have no idea. Anyway, Acidic, you don't deserve the sarcasm or anything that was pointed at you earlier. Sorry.
Bottom line: in my opinion, games like this shouldn't be played by kids, and both parents and gov't need to do as much as possible to keep games like this out of their hands. This includes controls on advertisements and placing games out of sight in game retailers/rental outlets. As for adults, whatever. I don't exactly approve, but I wouldn't dream of doing anything to prevent them from playing it.
I was going to agree with you all the way until the "asshole" bit :) I don't try to stop people from playing anything; I don't know where you got that impression. I'd like to stop kids from playing games like this, but I'm not about to go out and join some sort of organisation to do so.
yes, I object to the game, but on the other hand it's just a video game. It might be disturbing, but it's not hurting anybody. There's no conclusive proof that such a game wouldn't encourage little kids to become murderers, though, which is why I wish the game didn't exist (too tempting, easy enough for anybody to get the game, etc. etc.) Note that this is not the same as actively discouraging people from buying the game or retailers from stocking it.
Not necessarily; you can choose to object to the whole narrative too. If I created a video game where the player had to rape as many little girls as possible, but only because s/he would be raped if they didn't, would that make it an acceptable game?
Let's talk about Maher Arar for a second. He is a Canadian citizen who travelled into the US on a Canadian passport. Without any due process or notification, he was deported to Syria where he was tortured for a year. Why? Because the US suspected he was a terrorist. They didn't have any proof at all. Let me remind you that this was a CANADIAN who was sent there. This is US justice? After *that*, I can't take seriously any American who uses the phrase "prisoner of war."
I don't actually have anything against Bush himself; he seems like a good president. However, some of his government's policies right now are seriously screwed up. I wouldn't call the US a fascist state, but some of the policies and procedures that the US is implementing right now is very, very close to pre-WWII Italy and Germany. Can't you stop waving your flag for a few seconds to take a look at what's going on in your country?
One last thing: the civilians being held in Guantanimo were *not* actively fighting your troops - they are suspected terrorists not being charged with a crime, but being held as material witnesses. This is a gross violation of US judicial law.
If you choose to play the game then you're forced to murder. I agree that it's up to parents - if they would watch the games that their kids play, then there might not be any need for gov't regulation.
There was a discussion a while ago on /. about this topic - I agreed with the idea that adult/mature vid games should be kept in a back room, a la porn at the local video store. No sight, no access. If a kid decides to pirate a game, well, nobody except his parents can do anything about that.
Beyond that, I also think that advertisements for such games should be severely limited. Do you remember way back when the advertisement for Quarantine? White page, a windshield wiper washing off blood. It was enough for people to get the point, but younger kids who saw it wouldn't connect the (boring) ad to a violent game. All these gory ads for Manhunt are just going to encourage kids to play the game.
"as soon as you start deciding what types of speech can and cannot be free, you're no longer allowing free speech... You don't get to pick and choose what people are allowed to say if speech is free."
By your own definition, then, the US does not allow free speech. Ever heard of hate crimes? Guantamino bay for the "terrorists" who say the wrong thing? No, your culture definitely does not advocate free speech. You're right, though, it isn't a little fucked up -- it's a *lot* fucked up.
I liked Silence of the Lambs; it wasn't about gratuitous murder. You say that movies are a "passive" medium, and that's exactly why the movies that you described are acceptable, whereas games like Manhunt should not exist. I can sit in my seat and absolutely hate everything that Lecter does, but when I'm playing a game where I'm forced to decapitate, strangle, and brutalise other individuals, then I have no choice but to become involved in that world.
Sure, you can play violent vid games, but do you support the right of a ten year old playing this game?
I play GTA and Vice city, CS, Call to Duty, all the way back to Wolfie 3d. Fine for adults, sure, but kids shouldn't be playing this, period.
Ya, it *does* seem a bit over the line. GTA was fun because you could do whatever you wanted to in any given city; being forced to execute people in photo-realisic glory is somewhat scary. No way in hell kids under 18 should play this game; hell, I doubt *anybody* should. Perhaps games like this just shouldn't have been made?
The equivalent to what you're describing in the computer/music industry is called "counterfeiting." Levy or not, it is illegal, and the Man *will* bust you for it. OT, I know, but just to keep things in perspective with the topic at hand...
Not that I'm pissed; I've got it on preorder from Amazon as we speak :)
Unless these levies are punitive, they're pretty much an excuse to pirate whatever I want to online.
Of course, this is all purely hypothetical, as I have *never* pirated anything...
When I played VC, I *never* once thought, "hey, those haitians, they're pretty bloodthursty!" And you wanna know why? Cuz it's a GAME, not a how-to guide or a travel brochure!
I have serious inner-ear problems, which cause the problems mentioned in my post. Blackouts, extreme nausea, headaches... all of these are a result of my fucked up ear.
"The sensation of balance has absolutely nothing to do with g-forces." True enough - but how do you think that game designers would implement +-G turns using these electrodes? My point is not G-forces, but the whole concept of messing around with only one part of the body, esp. for a game.
"All [electrodes] could do is make you think you are upside down." Or spin you in circles for a few seconds, or make you believe you're repeatedly climbing and diving; could you imagine the havoc this would play on the body? Your ear is telling you that you're climbing, whereas the rest of your body thinks that it's not. Hello projectile vomiting.
AFAIK only gravity can cause red or black outs, yes, but go back and read my post - I'm talking about nausea, not the actual implementation of +-G forces. Such electrodes could cause nausea, right? Therefore I stand by my statement: "If people start associating nausea with video games, the industry is hooped."
BTW, if you're going to troll, don't apologise; leap into the art of trolling, my friend. You've got a good start here, congrats.
In reality, if somebody's shot down in an airplane, it's okay for them to have a screaming headache and red out because they're about to freaking die. In a video game, it's nice to just watch the pretty pixels pass by before you crater.
Safedisc and whatnot have been doing this for sometime now. Daemon Tools will release an update that will bypass the blacklist and all will be merry.
I got the camera body and a 50mm 1.8d lens for for $300 USD; it's $50 more than the 28-80 that comes bundled, but the 50mm is extremely sharp and turns out terrific-looking shots, great for both indoors and outdoors.
Are you kidding? Killing popups is as easy as selecting an option in Opera. Messenger popups are a simple registry hack. Avoiding slammer is as easy as turning off HTML e-mail and keeping your system up to date.
These are not ridiculously difficult hacks. I *wish* MS paid me cash to push their products. Seriously, you need to start taking your meds and lay off the FUD.
Inspiron 8600: Pretty good, not as great performance or battery-life wise, but if you're going to be using the computer plugged in a lot then this is negligible. Cost is sig. lower than T40.
Dunno about the HPaq, but if you've ever bought a computer from HP or Compaq then you know what to do: back away slowly and reach for your cross.
Dude, how exactly is WinXP buggy? I can go from power off to my desktop in under 10 seconds. I don't have crashes, don't have slowdown, don't have software conflicts, and certainly don't have to bother with glib or java dependencies any more. I've got a student copy of WinXP from 2001 which costs less than the last three updates for OSX (Microsoft updates for free) and is much more stable IMHO than Mandrake 9.0 or Redhat 8.0. $140 CAD for an OS for two years and counting. How is this a bad deal?