This is disingenuous. It's one thing to believe that no war is justified, and something else to believe that this war is not justified. I'm sure there are many people who object to war in general (I'm one of those) but certainly there are also people who believe in military power and despise its misuse. Ordering someone to commit a dishonorable action calls your command authority into question.
I'm not sure why, but the VideoCD format is much more popular in India than the DVD format. At least, this was true a couple of years ago when my dad was there. It could be because of the region lock, but then there are plenty of players that have workarounds for that. Note that not all players on that page support many regions, but it's a good place to find out if yours does.
I was about to say that Benevolence International is only alleged to have contributed to terrorist orgs and that nothing has been decided yet. Apparently this is not the case, as you can read at The Economist or Google News (don't forget to disable the cookie!)
I remember an article some time ago about violence and "mature themes" in computer games, and someone asserted that "mature" has become a code word for "juvenile." I think that's exactly on target, since putting violence and (semi)nudity in your games doesn't make your more mature. Instead sex and violence in a game appeal to a portion of the population who is still surprised and thrilled by them.
Similarly, I think that gamers with sophisticated tastes are exactly the ones who would buy Elite, and it's the people who want lots of zowie in their games who keep upping expectations for things like graphics and dismemberment.
It makes sense in the context of a computer game, where the whole point is being rewarded for correct behavior.
It's operant conditioning: behavior + reward = increased behavior, and behavior + extinction = decreased behavior. This is probably more pronounced when people see those exhibiting wrong behavior (pirating the game) being rewarded in the same way as those exhibiting right behavior.
It takes a powerful influence to supplant this conditioning model, if I understood my Ed. Psych classes correctly. Religion typically carries some moral authority, but from what I know of that, much of it is predicated on doing the right thing in exchange for a reward later.
Barry:...However, if we create a (bulk) sender pays model through some sort of trade association then that organization would have a revenue stream which can be tapped to enforce its revenue model, and a monied interest in defending that revenue model.
I think Shein proposes that another, new organization be the recipient of the funds, and that they would separate the legitimate mass emailers from the spammers. I see other problems in allowing ISPs to have a say in what emails can be sent to its users and what cannot. That's from a different answer though.
Vivendi didn't make any of those games, they published them. You argument would still work except that in my experience, the publisher can't be used as an indicator of quality. Relic made Homeworld, Bioware made Baldur's Gate, and as far as I know, a group at Sierra made the Caesar and Cleopatra games.
It's more appropriate to refer to Liquid Entertainment's past work, which is Battle Realms and the Battle Realms addon. BR was good, certainly giving me a good feeling about Liquid developing this LOTR game. In fact, when I found out it was them, I was very very relieved.
You may still be right, and it may be rushed out the door too fast. I don't think Vivendi does that too much.
Still, I'd take a rushed game from Liquid over a non-rushed game from, say Phantagram (makers of the horrific Kingdom Under Fire.) Liquid itself doesn't have the longest track record, but the two founders both worked at Westwood and Ed Del Castillo (one of them) was "the sole Producer in charge of the entire Command and Conquer series, including Red Alert and its expansions..." This info is available at Liquid's annoying Flash site.
How about a picture of it doing something other than sitting there being lit? Like playing a game? My xbox doesn't work at the moment, but I can still make a nice green light in it.
Maybe there was a picture of this and I missed it?
Will I be able to check listings for this? Because if not, I may miss one/all of them.
Besides, if Lucas says that Episode III won't make sense without knowing the events from these "cartoons," I think he's assuming that we're dumb as rocks, like he seems to anyway. Listen to the commentary parts by him on any of the recent movies. He has literally no respect for the audience's intelligence.
(t) Telemarketer means any person who, in connection with telemarketing, initiates or receives telephone calls to or from a customer.
(u) Telemarketing means a plan, program, or campaign which is conducted to induce the purchase of goods or services by use of one or more telephones and which involves more than one interstate telephone call. The term does not include the solicitation of sales through the mailing of a catalog which: contains a written description or illustration of the goods or services offered for sale; includes the business address of the seller; includes multiple pages of written material or illustrations; and has been issued not less frequently than once a year, when the person making the solicitation does not solicit customers by telephone but only receives calls initiated by customers in response to the catalog and during those calls takes orders only without further solicitation. For purposes of the previous sentence, the term "further solicitation" does not include providing the customer with information about, or attempting to sell, any other item included in the same catalog which prompted the customer's call or in a substantially similar catalog.
It doesn't look like someone conducting a survery falls under the definition of "telemarketer" because they aren't solicitng a purchase.
Once again we see defeatism masquerading as realism. I'm sorry, but I see two real answers to the charge that life is not fair:
It's fair and you just don't like the outcome (as others in this thread are saying.)
It's unfair because someone decided to make it unfair. They can't palm that decision off on some cosmic force that unbalances things. It's a copout that way.
My kids often at school say that things aren't fair. Usually, it's choice (1), because kids are like that. If I ever stand in front of kids and explain myself by saying "well life's not fair" it's time for me to leave teaching.
From what I remember, the problem of being attacked while not logged on was a basic design choice for them. Either:
You have the ability to specify your units' AI to the point where your base defends itself in your absence
If you don't have an ally logged in when you're not there, you're screwed.
Even if you can order your AI around, I think that still would not have worked against a human player or two. On the other hand, maybe I'm thinking of another game. 10 six maybe? All these games run together after a while.
I heard on NPR yesterday that Mexico doesn't want to submit Y Tu Mama Tambien because it's already won an award (best foreign film) and they want El Crimen del padre Amaro to have a shot at getting an award. Each country apparently only gets to submit one film for consideration.
Does Clear Channel own any rights to the concert performance? I hope for their sake that they do, since this would be the basis on which the RIAA would get pissed off. If CC is able to make this arrangement with the artists themselves, it could be a good thing.
On the other hand, I only trust Clear Channel as far as I can throw it. I guess in an official announcement, or once they start doing this, we'll see if the CDs also end up in stores next to studio albums.
Worf---What the heck is he doing there!?!? The fact that he's there, doing the same old job, just screams TV episode to everyone in the audience. Especially after all that he went through in DS9, regaining the respect of his fellow Klingons... to treat him like the Worf from TNG is just unacceptable.
It is a central element of TNG that Worf be treated as a clown. No Worf, no clown. Also, he became a real character during his run on DS9, and we can't have that either. Remember in Insurrection when he got giant zits? They should have put him in an orange wig and a big red bow tie.
Unless he gets into some madcap hijinks as the Klingon Ambassador to the Federation (or was it visa versa?) there's no possibility of this. Hell, they suspended a war to get him onto the ship in Insurrection, so there's some kind of powerful force at work here.
Berman says that he believes the promotion was done correctly, but I disagree. I couldn't make heads or tails of any of the trailers and commercials I saw. That's not surprising because I had about the same reaction to the movie itself.
My understanding came from integrating all the bad reviews I read later (I enjoy reading bad reviews) with what I remembered from the "film." Nemesis purported to be about a slave revolt grown out of control. And Earth was Threatened, but what's the connection? Picard? None? The Enterprise arrives and helps the Romulans put down the revolt. What happens to the Remans now? They go back to enslavement? Or are they all dead? A great victory for the Federation!
It's too bad DS9 wasn't more popular. At least it was complex. TNG and Voyager weren't complex, just complicated.
I saw Nemesis on the evening it opened. How I wish I could get those however-many-hours back. When people asked me, and even if they didn't, I recommended that no one go to see the movie. Not even if the theater offered to pay them. The movie was just that bad. I think there might even have been people who were going to see it on Saturday or Sunday but caught the putrefaction of the movie on the wind from the people who emerged from the stinking theaters on Friday night.
Ravi
Re:Game developers shooting themselves in the foot
on
Infinite Games?
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· Score: 1
I didn't think of this until I read the other comment (about the game being sold on a subscription basis) but I see two possibilities:
Massive online games. I've never played one, but from what I've read, some of the areas and things get boring and repetitive.
Use this system as a bridge between required and static levels. That is, include some on-the-fly missions and some required ones.
I also think that many games need an ending or two that was scripted by the developers. Prerendered cutscenes wouldn't make much sense, but then there are certainly many games now that employ the game engine to do cutscenes anyway.
Ravi
Re:I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing...
on
Advergames
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· Score: 1
I agree that it isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, I don't think that it will bring prices down, since most games are unique such that they aren't really competing with anything. You can't really go buy the Doom III competitor. Look for the extra revenue to go in the author's pockets.
Most games are not unique. Doom III, I think, is a bad example of games in general. Even if the gameplay turns out to be poor, there are a lot of people who are highly committed to buying it as soon as they see a "preorder" button. It has a high profile because of the considerable technical accomplishment it represents.
But take a less zowie game like Homeworld. It's spawned numerous wanna-be's (ORB, Hegemonia, Project Earth, Far Gate) which all have good intentions but can hardly be called unique. Many popular games set this kind of trend.
I agree that the ad revenue is going to go into someone's pocket rather than bring the price down though.
Take away Star Wars and what has he got? Grim Fandango?
Grim Fandango was at least a good game. Try The Dig. That wasn't especially good:) Indiana Jones has a little life left in it (there's an xbox game coming soon I think) and Full Throttle 2 is coming soon also. I don't think these are being developed at Lucasarts though? I hope not anyway, not after Force Commander and Rebellion.
I'm sorry if I was flip. I didn't mean to come off as callous.
I reread your original post and I find that school often gets in the way of education, especially when a lot of people who aren't teachers start making decisions about what goes on in classrooms. Maybe I'm biased but I think if they left us alone we'd be able to do a lot more for these kids. As for sports: in my current school there are a ton of sports. Along with that, there are plenty of kids who feel good about school because they feel involved. That improves the overall environment in a tangible way. It's the advantage that private schools have: someone decided on that particular school and has something invested in remaining there. I really only care about sports insofar as they help us put forward the academic program of the school. They do contribute somewhat in that regard, if the coaches value academics and convey it to their players.
I'm not sure whom you mean when you say "the school doesn't back you up." I don't know very many teachers who believe that kids should only do their work when given the proper incentive, and that if there is no incentive then kids should not do their work. I haven't been to your son's school though so maybe things are different there. Maybe I'm just hypersensitive and when someone says that "the school" is or isn't doing something, I assume they mean teachers. Like I said though, the decision to not pass an undeserving student usually doesn't originate with the teacher. Students are frequently passed over our objections into the next grade or the next level of math (in my case.)
What kinds of penalties are imposed on you if your son doesn't do (for example) his homework? Here in Maryland, the only time parents are faced with real consequences is truancy. Like extreme truancy. But again things may be different there.
Good luck with your son, and to your son. If he's learned to slack, then he may need it.
Slashdot Mirror
This is disingenuous. It's one thing to believe that no war is justified, and something else to believe that this war is not justified. I'm sure there are many people who object to war in general (I'm one of those) but certainly there are also people who believe in military power and despise its misuse. Ordering someone to commit a dishonorable action calls your command authority into question.
Ravi
Sounds like a hack waiting to happen :)
I'm not sure why, but the VideoCD format is much more popular in India than the DVD format. At least, this was true a couple of years ago when my dad was there. It could be because of the region lock, but then there are plenty of players that have workarounds for that. Note that not all players on that page support many regions, but it's a good place to find out if yours does.
Ravi
I was about to say that Benevolence International is only alleged to have contributed to terrorist orgs and that nothing has been decided yet. Apparently this is not the case, as you can read at The Economist or Google News (don't forget to disable the cookie!)
Ravi
I remember an article some time ago about violence and "mature themes" in computer games, and someone asserted that "mature" has become a code word for "juvenile." I think that's exactly on target, since putting violence and (semi)nudity in your games doesn't make your more mature. Instead sex and violence in a game appeal to a portion of the population who is still surprised and thrilled by them.
Similarly, I think that gamers with sophisticated tastes are exactly the ones who would buy Elite, and it's the people who want lots of zowie in their games who keep upping expectations for things like graphics and dismemberment.
Ravi
It makes sense in the context of a computer game, where the whole point is being rewarded for correct behavior.
It's operant conditioning: behavior + reward = increased behavior, and behavior + extinction = decreased behavior. This is probably more pronounced when people see those exhibiting wrong behavior (pirating the game) being rewarded in the same way as those exhibiting right behavior.
It takes a powerful influence to supplant this conditioning model, if I understood my Ed. Psych classes correctly. Religion typically carries some moral authority, but from what I know of that, much of it is predicated on doing the right thing in exchange for a reward later.
Ravi
I was thinking the same thing, but I thought it was more Insightful than Funny. Good thing I didn't post it again.
Ravi
I think Shein proposes that another, new organization be the recipient of the funds, and that they would separate the legitimate mass emailers from the spammers. I see other problems in allowing ISPs to have a say in what emails can be sent to its users and what cannot. That's from a different answer though.
Ravi
Vivendi didn't make any of those games, they published them. You argument would still work except that in my experience, the publisher can't be used as an indicator of quality. Relic made Homeworld, Bioware made Baldur's Gate, and as far as I know, a group at Sierra made the Caesar and Cleopatra games.
It's more appropriate to refer to Liquid Entertainment's past work, which is Battle Realms and the Battle Realms addon. BR was good, certainly giving me a good feeling about Liquid developing this LOTR game. In fact, when I found out it was them, I was very very relieved.
You may still be right, and it may be rushed out the door too fast. I don't think Vivendi does that too much.
Still, I'd take a rushed game from Liquid over a non-rushed game from, say Phantagram (makers of the horrific Kingdom Under Fire.) Liquid itself doesn't have the longest track record, but the two founders both worked at Westwood and Ed Del Castillo (one of them) was "the sole Producer in charge of the entire Command and Conquer series, including Red Alert and its expansions..." This info is available at Liquid's annoying Flash site.
Ravi
How about a picture of it doing something other than sitting there being lit? Like playing a game? My xbox doesn't work at the moment, but I can still make a nice green light in it.
Maybe there was a picture of this and I missed it?
Ravi
Will I be able to check listings for this? Because if not, I may miss one/all of them.
Besides, if Lucas says that Episode III won't make sense without knowing the events from these "cartoons," I think he's assuming that we're dumb as rocks, like he seems to anyway. Listen to the commentary parts by him on any of the recent movies. He has literally no respect for the audience's intelligence.
Ravi
They're not making the decision, they're just enforcing yours. So what's wrong with that? If it were an opt-in list it would be different.
Ravi
The bill cites the "Telemarketing Sales Rule" from which I obtained the following definitions:
It doesn't look like someone conducting a survery falls under the definition of "telemarketer" because they aren't solicitng a purchase.
I'm a teacher, though, and NAL.
Ravi
Once again we see defeatism masquerading as realism. I'm sorry, but I see two real answers to the charge that life is not fair:
My kids often at school say that things aren't fair. Usually, it's choice (1), because kids are like that. If I ever stand in front of kids and explain myself by saying "well life's not fair" it's time for me to leave teaching.
Ravi
From what I remember, the problem of being attacked while not logged on was a basic design choice for them. Either:
Even if you can order your AI around, I think that still would not have worked against a human player or two. On the other hand, maybe I'm thinking of another game. 10 six maybe? All these games run together after a while.
Ravi
Maybe, but...
So maybe not :)
Ravi
I heard on NPR yesterday that Mexico doesn't want to submit Y Tu Mama Tambien because it's already won an award (best foreign film) and they want El Crimen del padre Amaro to have a shot at getting an award. Each country apparently only gets to submit one film for consideration.
Ravi
Does Clear Channel own any rights to the concert performance? I hope for their sake that they do, since this would be the basis on which the RIAA would get pissed off. If CC is able to make this arrangement with the artists themselves, it could be a good thing.
On the other hand, I only trust Clear Channel as far as I can throw it. I guess in an official announcement, or once they start doing this, we'll see if the CDs also end up in stores next to studio albums.
Ravi
It is a central element of TNG that Worf be treated as a clown. No Worf, no clown. Also, he became a real character during his run on DS9, and we can't have that either. Remember in Insurrection when he got giant zits? They should have put him in an orange wig and a big red bow tie.
Unless he gets into some madcap hijinks as the Klingon Ambassador to the Federation (or was it visa versa?) there's no possibility of this. Hell, they suspended a war to get him onto the ship in Insurrection, so there's some kind of powerful force at work here.
Ravi
Berman says that he believes the promotion was done correctly, but I disagree. I couldn't make heads or tails of any of the trailers and commercials I saw. That's not surprising because I had about the same reaction to the movie itself.
My understanding came from integrating all the bad reviews I read later (I enjoy reading bad reviews) with what I remembered from the "film." Nemesis purported to be about a slave revolt grown out of control. And Earth was Threatened, but what's the connection? Picard? None? The Enterprise arrives and helps the Romulans put down the revolt. What happens to the Remans now? They go back to enslavement? Or are they all dead? A great victory for the Federation!
It's too bad DS9 wasn't more popular. At least it was complex. TNG and Voyager weren't complex, just complicated.
Ravi
I saw Nemesis on the evening it opened. How I wish I could get those however-many-hours back. When people asked me, and even if they didn't, I recommended that no one go to see the movie. Not even if the theater offered to pay them. The movie was just that bad. I think there might even have been people who were going to see it on Saturday or Sunday but caught the putrefaction of the movie on the wind from the people who emerged from the stinking theaters on Friday night.
Ravi
I didn't think of this until I read the other comment (about the game being sold on a subscription basis) but I see two possibilities:
I also think that many games need an ending or two that was scripted by the developers. Prerendered cutscenes wouldn't make much sense, but then there are certainly many games now that employ the game engine to do cutscenes anyway.
Ravi
Most games are not unique. Doom III, I think, is a bad example of games in general. Even if the gameplay turns out to be poor, there are a lot of people who are highly committed to buying it as soon as they see a "preorder" button. It has a high profile because of the considerable technical accomplishment it represents.
But take a less zowie game like Homeworld. It's spawned numerous wanna-be's (ORB, Hegemonia, Project Earth, Far Gate) which all have good intentions but can hardly be called unique. Many popular games set this kind of trend.
I agree that the ad revenue is going to go into someone's pocket rather than bring the price down though.
Ravi
Not that Nolan Bushnell doesn't deserve a happy birthday, but isn't Ralph Baer the father of video games?
Maybe the father of video games at home.
Ravi
Grim Fandango was at least a good game. Try The Dig. That wasn't especially good :) Indiana Jones has a little life left in it (there's an xbox game coming soon I think) and Full Throttle 2 is coming soon also. I don't think these are being developed at Lucasarts though? I hope not anyway, not after Force Commander and Rebellion.
Ravi
I'm sorry if I was flip. I didn't mean to come off as callous.
I reread your original post and I find that school often gets in the way of education, especially when a lot of people who aren't teachers start making decisions about what goes on in classrooms. Maybe I'm biased but I think if they left us alone we'd be able to do a lot more for these kids. As for sports: in my current school there are a ton of sports. Along with that, there are plenty of kids who feel good about school because they feel involved. That improves the overall environment in a tangible way. It's the advantage that private schools have: someone decided on that particular school and has something invested in remaining there. I really only care about sports insofar as they help us put forward the academic program of the school. They do contribute somewhat in that regard, if the coaches value academics and convey it to their players.
I'm not sure whom you mean when you say "the school doesn't back you up." I don't know very many teachers who believe that kids should only do their work when given the proper incentive, and that if there is no incentive then kids should not do their work. I haven't been to your son's school though so maybe things are different there. Maybe I'm just hypersensitive and when someone says that "the school" is or isn't doing something, I assume they mean teachers. Like I said though, the decision to not pass an undeserving student usually doesn't originate with the teacher. Students are frequently passed over our objections into the next grade or the next level of math (in my case.)
What kinds of penalties are imposed on you if your son doesn't do (for example) his homework? Here in Maryland, the only time parents are faced with real consequences is truancy. Like extreme truancy. But again things may be different there.
Good luck with your son, and to your son. If he's learned to slack, then he may need it.
Ravi