Try visiting the "fan site" (linked from the banner at the top of the band's web page) - *lots* of full-length MP3 audio and MPEG1/2 video to be found there, with full the blessing of the band.
> Women arn't stupid enough to keep buying the same game.
Unless it has the word "SIMS" written on the box.
> Women arn't interested in scoring points, or winning in the same, obsessive way men are.
Have you played any MMORPGs recently? In my experience, the female players are just as level-hungry and treadmill-focussed as the guys are. I have a couple of female gamers in my circle of friends, and whenever we've played the same MMORPG, they have *totally* outpaced me.
> Women have hightened color perception and perceive virtual worlds differently to men, in that they often get motion sickness from playing FPS.
The female angle on this isn't something I've heard of before (an awful lot of those MMORPGs are first person) - Got a reference about this phenomena? It seems kind of odd that their incapacitatingly-enriched color perception only switches on when they play computer games...;)
And to think, it was only a couple of days ago that folks in these parts were arguing that only 12 year old girls would care about the range of customizable face available to change the look of the xbox 360....
I'm somehow reminded of the golgafrinchams, who had problems with the invention of the wheel because they couldn't decide what colour it should be...
I think, if anything, MS seems to have a trend to overindulge their japanese signings. Take the Steel Batallion series for example - the mecha games with the *insane* cockpit-sized peripheral (it's as if the developers were deliberately trying to pitch their "dream" game that no sane company would fund when they came up with that one!) - or the limited edition themed hardware releases for the likes of panza dragoon & the DOA series.
MS _do_ seem to be prepared to invest heavily when it comes to fluffing the egos of their japanese developers. I'm optimistic.
> Were Blizzard worried that people were going to
> buy dozens of copies of the game and make automated
> scripts to register them all? Oh, the horror, the horror.
More likely they were worried that people would make automated scripts to brute-force themselves a valid retail code... in which case, smart move by blizzard, imho.
> Google is a search company.
No, google is an advertising company. The search engine, the free e-mail, the usenet archive... they're all just there to lure you in to read the adverts.
Google sells your eyes to advertisers; that's its bottom line.
The non-combat MMORPG A Tale in the Desert has an extremely interesting game mechanic built around drug addiction... there's a potion in the game - called "Speed of the Serpent" - that gives the user a very beneficial boost to their abilities... but with a catch: SotS acts as a slow (and permanent) poison... after your first drink, you need to consume a dose of antidote at least once every 28 real-time days. If you miss a dose, your character dies. (Death in ATITD is permanent - say goodbye to the character; no resurrection).
The really evil twist is as follows... for every additional drink of SotS you take, you get the same ability boost... but the mandatory interval between your doses of "antidote" shortens by a day... so after 2 drinks of SotS, you need to drink the antidote at least once every 27 days... after 3 doses, you need to take the antidote on a 26 day cycle... etc etc...
This effect is cumulative, and (to date) there is no cure. However... the allure of the benefits that this potion can bring has driven a lot of people to become completely dependent on the antidote - having to log in every few days to make sure they get their fix and their character stays alive(!)
Of course, most people think: "Hey, I can handle one drink... the consequences aren't so bad..." - but once you're on the slippery slope to addiction....;)
The only video game you can pull out at a family gathering, and guarantee that *everybody* from grandma to the kids will be hooked within minutes. Pure genius.
(until somebody takes out a ceiling light with over-enthusiastic high-shakes that is...)
UK players can already use pay-as-you-go top-up cards to pay for many popular MMORPGs, via an account at paybycash. These cards can be credited at any outlet that offers mobile phone swipes.
"A Tale in the Desert" is an MMORPG that charges people *just* the way I think it should be done. You don't pay for the client. You don't pay an initial connection charge. You don't even have to pony up any credit card details until you've finished your trial period... All you pay is a monthly subscription *after* you've made the decision to keep playing.
Where other games put out "expansion packs", the developers add new content to the game on an ongoing basis - new stuff seems to appear every few days (and all client patching is done seamlessly while you're actually playing)...which from the players point of view is great stuff...
BUT...
According to the developers, not releasing expansion packs is actually *hurting* their PR! The thing is, each time the likes of Anarchy Online brings out something like "Shadowlands", they suddenly get big spreads in glossy magazines, headlines on all the news sites, and a new boost of publicity. Expansions that are given away for free, on an ongoing drip-feed basis, just don't blip on the gaming press radar. It's actually becoming a problem for the ATITD people; they're adding new (and pretty revolutionary) content to the game all the time, but the gaming press won't touch them because they assume the game is the same thing it was back at launch, and therefore old news... Seems they're just not interested in revisiting games unless there's a new shrinkwrapped box on the shop shelves... and, of course, no publicity = no new customers.
Sadly, it seems that this is one MMORPG company that's suffering by using a payment model that treats it's subscribers the "right" way:(
No, they don't. SCART is a european thing.
Just to complicate matters, not all SCART leads are created equal. Although the connectors are specified to carry composite, RGB, S-Video, and stereo sound all down one cable, very few of them are fully wired. The cheaper ones you get for consoles only have the composite video and audio pins wired up - you usually have to pay extra for a fully wired RGB version. It's a bit of a minefield for console newbies; most of the uk.games.video.* faqs cover this topic in depth.
The Guardian (UK) had an article yesterday about using ozone to treat tooth decay - 40 second treatment, zero pain... sounds like my kind of dentistry!!
Slashdot Mirror
Try visiting the "fan site" (linked from the banner at the top of the band's web page) - *lots* of full-length MP3 audio and MPEG1/2 video to be found there, with full the blessing of the band.
They are :)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/imp/
> Women arn't stupid enough to keep buying the same game. Unless it has the word "SIMS" written on the box. > Women arn't interested in scoring points, or winning in the same, obsessive way men are. Have you played any MMORPGs recently? In my experience, the female players are just as level-hungry and treadmill-focussed as the guys are. I have a couple of female gamers in my circle of friends, and whenever we've played the same MMORPG, they have *totally* outpaced me. > Women have hightened color perception and perceive virtual worlds differently to men, in that they often get motion sickness from playing FPS. The female angle on this isn't something I've heard of before (an awful lot of those MMORPGs are first person) - Got a reference about this phenomena? It seems kind of odd that their incapacitatingly-enriched color perception only switches on when they play computer games... ;)
http://www.dcs.lancs.ac.uk/iono/aurorawatch/rt_act ivity/
I'm somehow reminded of the golgafrinchams, who had problems with the invention of the wheel because they couldn't decide what colour it should be...
MS _do_ seem to be prepared to invest heavily when it comes to fluffing the egos of their japanese developers. I'm optimistic.
> Were Blizzard worried that people were going to
> buy dozens of copies of the game and make automated
> scripts to register them all? Oh, the horror, the horror.
More likely they were worried that people would make automated scripts to brute-force themselves a valid retail code... in which case, smart move by blizzard, imho.
> Google is a search company. No, google is an advertising company. The search engine, the free e-mail, the usenet archive... they're all just there to lure you in to read the adverts. Google sells your eyes to advertisers; that's its bottom line.
Elsewhere in the MMORPG world, Eve Online now use BitTorrent as the preferred distribution method for their client software.
A mac port is currently in progress (written by the same guy who wrote the linux client), and supposedly very close to completion.
The really evil twist is as follows... for every additional drink of SotS you take, you get the same ability boost... but the mandatory interval between your doses of "antidote" shortens by a day... so after 2 drinks of SotS, you need to drink the antidote at least once every 27 days... after 3 doses, you need to take the antidote on a 26 day cycle... etc etc...
This effect is cumulative, and (to date) there is no cure. However... the allure of the benefits that this potion can bring has driven a lot of people to become completely dependent on the antidote - having to log in every few days to make sure they get their fix and their character stays alive(!)
Of course, most people think: "Hey, I can handle one drink... the consequences aren't so bad..." - but once you're on the slippery slope to addiction.... ;)
The only video game you can pull out at a family gathering, and guarantee that *everybody* from grandma to the kids will be hooked within minutes. Pure genius.
(until somebody takes out a ceiling light with over-enthusiastic high-shakes that is...)
UK players can already use pay-as-you-go top-up cards to pay for many popular MMORPGs, via an account at paybycash. These cards can be credited at any outlet that offers mobile phone swipes.
Where other games put out "expansion packs", the developers add new content to the game on an ongoing basis - new stuff seems to appear every few days (and all client patching is done seamlessly while you're actually playing) ...which from the players point of view is great stuff...
BUT...
According to the developers, not releasing expansion packs is actually *hurting* their PR! The thing is, each time the likes of Anarchy Online brings out something like "Shadowlands", they suddenly get big spreads in glossy magazines, headlines on all the news sites, and a new boost of publicity. Expansions that are given away for free, on an ongoing drip-feed basis, just don't blip on the gaming press radar. It's actually becoming a problem for the ATITD people; they're adding new (and pretty revolutionary) content to the game all the time, but the gaming press won't touch them because they assume the game is the same thing it was back at launch, and therefore old news... Seems they're just not interested in revisiting games unless there's a new shrinkwrapped box on the shop shelves... and, of course, no publicity = no new customers.
Sadly, it seems that this is one MMORPG company that's suffering by using a payment model that treats it's subscribers the "right" way :(
No, they don't. SCART is a european thing. Just to complicate matters, not all SCART leads are created equal. Although the connectors are specified to carry composite, RGB, S-Video, and stereo sound all down one cable, very few of them are fully wired. The cheaper ones you get for consoles only have the composite video and audio pins wired up - you usually have to pay extra for a fully wired RGB version. It's a bit of a minefield for console newbies; most of the uk.games.video.* faqs cover this topic in depth.
This was a U.S. article. You only get SCART connections on european teevees.
Electronic auctions? Can't the guys who wrote M.U.L.E. claim prior art?
Now we can have drills, lasers, or highly toxic gas pumped into our gums... decisions decisions...
The Guardian (UK) had an article yesterday about using ozone to treat tooth decay - 40 second treatment, zero pain... sounds like my kind of dentistry!!
If trolling doesn't work on the mathematicians, try it on the DBAs...