Uhm, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but in true Slashdot fashion, you've totally misunderstood what the article is about. I would like to add that I came to this conclusion without actually reading the article myself, of course.
Settle down, Beavis. Not everybody likes the same games. Nobody is trying to convince you to like Oblivion. For some people it's the best thing since sliced bread. It doesn't mean they're retards.
Right man, there are literally *hundreds* of bands that I'm a total fan of, and I think it's safe to say that most metal fans can say the same thing. It would be too much work to post about the majority of them, I so a small selection will have to suffice.
I recently went to see W.A.S.P. and I think they're awesome. I'd even throw them on the metal pile, why not. Can't comfortably classify them as rock, just like Twisted Sister which I feel is almost thrash metal sometimes. There's a big difference between the rock that's regularly played on the radio (Queen, Guns 'n Roses, Bon Jovi) and the rock that lies at the foundation of metal (Black Sabbath, Dio, Krokus, Saxon, W.A.S.P., Motley Crue, even Whitesnake). I'm not really sure what makes up that difference.
You might want to listen to Uli Jon Roth "Metamorphosis" CD, nice Vivaldi's four seasons interpretation. I love Yngwie Malmsteen's music until the "Inspiration" album. The first albums with "Rising Force" (which featured the formidable Jens Johansson on keyboards) where awesome. I do not like what he plays nowadays (and that he became such a jerk).
Yeah, what's up with that. I once saw Yngwie live at an outdoor festival, I think (hehe, Europe rocks, eat your heart out USA). I think that at one point he was just clogging the stage, as in: look at me playing my guitar, I'm so awesome! Of course, he is awesome on the guitar, but there's no trace of humbleness in him any more.
Funny enough, if you listen to the lyrics of songs from say stratovarius, manowar and other metal bands, they tend to send the message more like "cheer up, hold on and fight"
Hehe, I like the old hardrock bands like Motley Crue and Twisted Sister for this. Great catchy music and it has to have had a profound influence on a lot of confused kids, who suddenly got told that it doesn't matter what people think or say about you, just ROCK!:)
Most of those newer bands sound like angry teenagers to me, which maybe is why they're so popular among teenagers.;) To be fair, I suppose the early '80s bands sounded exactly like that, but it's not the same. Maybe it's generational differences and these days teens get their frustration and anger at society out by screaming at them and jumping up and down instead of just screaming lyrics and thrashing around.:)
Anyway, I tried to include only those bands that I like and respect for their entire career. Sepultura just turned into one of those bands that just don't do it for me any more. Exceptions in that list, like In Flames, have touched me so deeply in the past that I just had to include them. Which makes it ever sadder for me to find that their last releases are so bland and different. Everybody else seems to like them, though.
The list I provided is even only a small, incomplete list of reasonably well-known bands. Beneath that radar are thousands of local and not-so-local bands that in many cases are just as good (just not as well-supported, financially).
The "problem" with Metal is that nowadays it encompasses a huge diversity of stiles.
Well, of course. Metal is one the genres that encompasses the most varied styles. I think that's also due to the obsessiveness which which metal fans approach their music. That is, it's more than just music and they shape it around their particular life styles. Then there is the vast differences in skill that is required for many different genres. I remember Kreator front-man Mille explaining in an interview that they were into guitarists like Steve Vai and stuff back then, but they realized that they'd never be as good as him. So they just wanted to play loud and fast music. I think anyone with a little vision, passion and rehearsing can put something down that's at least decent-sounding and improve their music from there. Of course, that's also true of pop (minus the improving).
...hates Speed Metal (he does not find attractive to listen to people who seems to song as if their nuts are being squeezed... or so he said hehe).
Ah, the classic complaint from haters.:P I think it's actually bullshit. I like both types of vocals. I just don't like the hardcorish/modern Slipknot/Korn type of vocals. Even In Flames sounds like that these days. You have to learn to like some stuff, but if you're always putting up your shield for it, you'll never accept it. Maybe your brother is worried what people will think about him when they hear that he likes a guy screaming like a girl.;)
what NEW recent classical compositions have appeared recently?
It's called film scores.:) There's a lot of great compositions in movies today. I think that a lot of metal fans are into this as well. Some classical compositions would actually translate to metal pretty nicely.
Great bands all, but I'm not sure that I would call them lesser known. Or is metal these days really regarded only through the best-known bands? I've always held that any metal fan worth his salt has good knowledge of long list of great bands. There are few other scenes where the fans are so obsessive about their music.:) Here are some more suggestions:
Aborted, Amon Amarth, Amorphis, Anathema, Ancient Rites, Annihilator, At the Gates, Bloodbath, Bolt Thrower, Candlemass, Dark Angel, Dark Tranquility, Death, Death Angel, Destruction, Detonation, Dismember, Dissection, Dying Fetus, Emperor, Entombed, Exodus, Finntroll, Fleshcrawl, Flesh Made Sin, God Dethroned, Gorefest, Graveworm, Hypocrisy, Immortal, In Flames, Judas Priest, Kataklysm, Kreator, Malevolent Creation, Nevermore, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Old Man's Child, Overkill, Pentacle, Possessed, Satyricon, Sentenced, Sinister, Slayer, Suffocation, Testament, Unleashed, Vader, Vital Remains
I don't know if instancing breaks immersion in World of Warcraft. Perhaps it even increases it. You see, dungeon entrances in WoW are these portals you run through, upon which you are placed inside the instance. It feels like a teleporter, and while it's obvious that you and your group are in a separated piece of the world, it doesn't seem like as big a problem for believability as you'd think. In fact, it enables dungeon and encounter designers to be more creative in coming up with content.
Well, no. I'd never claim it's bug-free, but it's still Blizzard-class quality. I've never had that stuck mob problem, though. That must be new since the expansion, because I've never noticed before, when I was playing a lot more. You're right that a lot of problems are content-based and not necessarily engine. As far as design and implementation goes, I think the entire engine (graphics and gameplay) is one of the best ever made for an MMORPG. It's just well put-together and relatively trouble-free these days.
Actually, the game is pretty good. Game reviewers tend to agree. It's just not the formula that gets people addicted for years on end, working on their character. Character development will always play a minor part in MMOFPS games.
That's an easy comment. Name some of these technical issues that you mention. It's not perfect, but I can't for the life of me think of any severe problems.
Well, possibly because these musicians want nothing more than a label that will pay for their recording cost for them. These guys are expensive, even though there are many affordable budget studios these days. You do get what you pay for, which is mostly the experience of the engineers. Furthermore, some people prefer over-compressed tracks. It also depends on the type of music you're playing. For example, a solid death metal track would probably benefit from extremely compressed voice and drum tracks.
Only the big names that get trapped in slave contracts will have to bow to the label's wishes. And in that case, it's more a case of bad business decisions (or protecting your very livelihood) than anything else.
Have you ever been in a band? One of the biggest problems you encounter (aside from getting along with each other musically as well as personally over an extended period of time) is excessive time spent on perfecting your material. Musicians are perfectionists. If it's not one song they continue to work on for much too long, it's a new song they started, neglecting the old one. Songs never get finished, because they're still too busy trying to work out the right way to transition from this part to that or aren't happy about one riff or another.
The purpose of this project, and it seems to me like a great idea, is to motivate bands to have a definite time-line and a goal to pursue. When you are actually working towards something and are under pressure to finish it, when you have an actual end to your project in sight, then suddenly the band will pull together and work thrice as hard on it. Stuff gets done, and what do you know? It turns out that creativity doesn't need years upon years of perfecting.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah. Wait and see what happens when you hit level cap/endgame in that game.
This post deliverers!
No, I know what it's about. Star Wars in Latin, right?
Uhm, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but in true Slashdot fashion, you've totally misunderstood what the article is about. I would like to add that I came to this conclusion without actually reading the article myself, of course.
My Gods. I've never played the extension, but I would've *loved* this. There's so much originality and inspiration in that game's content.
Helping yourself
Linux doesn't use databases. Flat text files and grep work just as well as this overly complicated "SQL" crap.
Settle down, Beavis. Not everybody likes the same games. Nobody is trying to convince you to like Oblivion. For some people it's the best thing since sliced bread. It doesn't mean they're retards.
Right man, there are literally *hundreds* of bands that I'm a total fan of, and I think it's safe to say that most metal fans can say the same thing. It would be too much work to post about the majority of them, I so a small selection will have to suffice.
I recently went to see W.A.S.P. and I think they're awesome. I'd even throw them on the metal pile, why not. Can't comfortably classify them as rock, just like Twisted Sister which I feel is almost thrash metal sometimes. There's a big difference between the rock that's regularly played on the radio (Queen, Guns 'n Roses, Bon Jovi) and the rock that lies at the foundation of metal (Black Sabbath, Dio, Krokus, Saxon, W.A.S.P., Motley Crue, even Whitesnake). I'm not really sure what makes up that difference.
Most of those newer bands sound like angry teenagers to me, which maybe is why they're so popular among teenagers. ;) To be fair, I suppose the early '80s bands sounded exactly like that, but it's not the same. Maybe it's generational differences and these days teens get their frustration and anger at society out by screaming at them and jumping up and down instead of just screaming lyrics and thrashing around. :)
Anyway, I tried to include only those bands that I like and respect for their entire career. Sepultura just turned into one of those bands that just don't do it for me any more. Exceptions in that list, like In Flames, have touched me so deeply in the past that I just had to include them. Which makes it ever sadder for me to find that their last releases are so bland and different. Everybody else seems to like them, though.
The list I provided is even only a small, incomplete list of reasonably well-known bands. Beneath that radar are thousands of local and not-so-local bands that in many cases are just as good (just not as well-supported, financially).
Great bands all, but I'm not sure that I would call them lesser known. Or is metal these days really regarded only through the best-known bands? I've always held that any metal fan worth his salt has good knowledge of long list of great bands. There are few other scenes where the fans are so obsessive about their music. :) Here are some more suggestions:
Aborted, Amon Amarth, Amorphis, Anathema, Ancient Rites, Annihilator, At the Gates, Bloodbath, Bolt Thrower, Candlemass, Dark Angel, Dark Tranquility, Death, Death Angel, Destruction, Detonation, Dismember, Dissection, Dying Fetus, Emperor, Entombed, Exodus, Finntroll, Fleshcrawl, Flesh Made Sin, God Dethroned, Gorefest, Graveworm, Hypocrisy, Immortal, In Flames, Judas Priest, Kataklysm, Kreator, Malevolent Creation, Nevermore, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Old Man's Child, Overkill, Pentacle, Possessed, Satyricon, Sentenced, Sinister, Slayer, Suffocation, Testament, Unleashed, Vader, Vital Remains
I don't know if instancing breaks immersion in World of Warcraft. Perhaps it even increases it. You see, dungeon entrances in WoW are these portals you run through, upon which you are placed inside the instance. It feels like a teleporter, and while it's obvious that you and your group are in a separated piece of the world, it doesn't seem like as big a problem for believability as you'd think. In fact, it enables dungeon and encounter designers to be more creative in coming up with content.
That guy was probably cheating.
Oh well, I don't know. I just don't encounter all that much problems. Maybe that's because I don't spend 50 hours a week playing the game.
My game is better than your game!! :)
Well, no. I'd never claim it's bug-free, but it's still Blizzard-class quality. I've never had that stuck mob problem, though. That must be new since the expansion, because I've never noticed before, when I was playing a lot more. You're right that a lot of problems are content-based and not necessarily engine. As far as design and implementation goes, I think the entire engine (graphics and gameplay) is one of the best ever made for an MMORPG. It's just well put-together and relatively trouble-free these days.
Actually, the game is pretty good. Game reviewers tend to agree. It's just not the formula that gets people addicted for years on end, working on their character. Character development will always play a minor part in MMOFPS games.
That's an easy comment. Name some of these technical issues that you mention. It's not perfect, but I can't for the life of me think of any severe problems.
Yeah. Sounds absolutely simple. A BABY could do it. :P
Well, you know. Games like PlanetSide has proved to be not very successful. Fact is, many people want the traditional MMORPG gameplay.
Well, possibly because these musicians want nothing more than a label that will pay for their recording cost for them. These guys are expensive, even though there are many affordable budget studios these days. You do get what you pay for, which is mostly the experience of the engineers. Furthermore, some people prefer over-compressed tracks. It also depends on the type of music you're playing. For example, a solid death metal track would probably benefit from extremely compressed voice and drum tracks. Only the big names that get trapped in slave contracts will have to bow to the label's wishes. And in that case, it's more a case of bad business decisions (or protecting your very livelihood) than anything else.
Have you ever been in a band? One of the biggest problems you encounter (aside from getting along with each other musically as well as personally over an extended period of time) is excessive time spent on perfecting your material. Musicians are perfectionists. If it's not one song they continue to work on for much too long, it's a new song they started, neglecting the old one. Songs never get finished, because they're still too busy trying to work out the right way to transition from this part to that or aren't happy about one riff or another.
The purpose of this project, and it seems to me like a great idea, is to motivate bands to have a definite time-line and a goal to pursue. When you are actually working towards something and are under pressure to finish it, when you have an actual end to your project in sight, then suddenly the band will pull together and work thrice as hard on it. Stuff gets done, and what do you know? It turns out that creativity doesn't need years upon years of perfecting.
Personally, I /flirt to role-play my latent homosexual desires. /flirts with Lethyos