Instead, it allows people that don't have the money to buy the game to play it anyhow, and get their friends excited, and get them interested in sequels and spinoffs. Instead of forcing the penniless gamer to go out and play in the yard for free, it keeps them addicted to video games.
So, if I can't afford a Ferrari, I should be able to have one, anyway? Sweet, I'm going to go find and take the first Ferrari I see, because even though I'm penniless, I should be able to have it, anyway. And the Ferrari will give me my kicks, so it helps my "addiction", which would probably make me more likely to go out and steal another Ferrari rather than save up to buy one.
Yes, I know that depriving someone else of their property is not quite the same as downloading a digital copy, but that's the point you're making- if you can't afford it, you should have it anyway. This is just bullshit sense-of-entitlement excuses, no better than Nintendo's own quips (Second-hand games are illegal!). Furthermore, if you can't afford the games (even the cheap-ass $20 older ones) then how the hell can you afford a console? It's like buying a nice 40" TV then saying you can't afford cable (at least with a TV you have over-the-air programming, though).
Do people use these things to make legal backups? Sure. Do the majority of people with these use it for such? Doubtful. Games really aren't that expensive. Okay, you want Gears of War? Save $5/month for a year. If you can afford the 360, you can probably afford to stuff $5 in a cookie jar. Maybe you'll have to rent it a bit, or wait, but if you want the game you can do it. And, by the time you have that $60, the price would probably come down a bit. (This isn't even to mention games not yet released, which tend to get hype many months in advance, allowing you to start saving now.)
Basically anyone who says that someone can get laid anytime she wishes and by anyone she wishes because she's a girl, probably is doing the same daydreaming
A Lightsaber game would be no fun if you didn't battle against others with Lightsabers, though. However, you are quite correct that slicing through enemies and thinner metal constructs is a trivial task for a lightsaber, so in that case we could have 1:1 motion.
My thought is that it would be more of a command system than a control system. You swing your Wiimote, and the angle/strength is calculated and sent to the console. Your Jedi/Sith then swings in the calculated direction with calculated speed. If your character is slowed down or stopped by something, one of three things could happen: 1) The character returns their hands to a "default" position. You then have to move your hands to that general area. 2) If you hold your hands at the end of your arc, the character could continue to force their way through it, albeit slower. 3) If the lightsaber reaches a "full stop" position, the character simply turns off the saber, allowing it to continue the arc without stopping, then turns it back on once through.
A lot of people are harking back to Red Steel, saying it can't get better than that, but Metroid Prime 3 showed vast improvement over Red Steel on the FPS angle, and that was with only a year. I'm sure that motion reading can be enhanced, too.
Like many Smash Brothers fans, I had to change my pants after reading the announcement yesterday. Even so, I can't help but see a lot of potential problems. I'm trying not to lay them in too much, as we only have preliminary information, and some of my concerns may be addressed in future updates.
Random Play Matching I love the idea that random play isn't about stats or ranking. This makes it easier to get into a game just for fun. However, one large problem I see with it right now is uneven matches. Without a ranking system, you could walk into a match and either have your ass handed to you very quickly, or get a complete newbie and have no challenge what so ever (some will delight in this, I don't find it that useful).
I hope that there is a ranking system, but that's it's invisible, and used merely to have good match ups between users. The ranking would likely work the same that it did in Multiplayer for Melee- everyone starts with five stars or so (out of 10), and as you win or lose your star level goes up or down, respectively. Then you only fight with people within one star level of yourself (so someone with eight stars won't be matched to someone with two).
Lack of Communication in Random The lack of communication means I won't have to deal with some 12 year old calling me a "fag" when I toss them off a cliff. While being free of annoying idiots during play is great, I'd really love some way to meet up with people after a match, if only to tell them congratulations. Perhaps a system where one person says "I want to contact this player, and these two can contact me", and if two people request/give contact permission the system can hook them up.
Small Friend Roster Take a look at one of the screenshots that lists "you" and three of your friends. Note the "3/64" in the screenshot. While we can't be sure, some discussion has lead to the idea that you are limited to only 64 friend codes for the game, out of the 250 or so allowed in the Wii system itself.
Another concern that springs to mind is the Law of Kevin Bacon- if your friend invites you and two of his friends, who are not on your machine as friends, to a battle, will the system disallow the match because you are not their "friends" too? That is, can you only battle with people who you have one degree of separation with, regardless of who sets up the match? This seems crazy, but Nintendo can be overzealous about online stuff. ("Think of the children", etc.)
Lack of random communication As I said, I like the idea of silent battles, but there are times when it's fun to just bullshit with people. I would think that the ability to "hear" other people could be a user or system preference. Perhaps tie it in with the Wii's Parental Controls.
As I said, we only have preliminary information, so hopefully these will be taken care of before the game's release (though, with but three months to go, I doubt these would make it into the game if they're not already, even if there was a large outcry).
Most places like Target and Best Buy have had GH demos out for a very long time now, so the mass populace has had some time to check the game out. I often see the demos in use wherever I go, so they are definitely popular. The extra price for the GH controller might turn off some casual Wii owners (who bought a Wii due to the lower price), but I think a lot of Wii owners are going to pick up this title.
This Christmas is going to be interesting as far as sales numbers go. While we dealt with the two new systems last Christmas, things have radically changed in only a year. The Wii still sells out quickly, though stores are able to keep it in stock now, but will that last into the holiday season? Added to this is that two AAA titles, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Brothers Brawl, are coming out before Christmas.
DDR: Hottest Party (Or was it Hottest Dance?) comes out in a few weeks on the Wii, too, and will likely be scooped up in droves by the "casual" gamers as it is yet another way to play games without sitting on the couch.
Then the 360 and PS3 have both had hardware changes and price drops, so the general public will be more receptive. And now that there is a larger selection of high-def movies available, both will be interesting to HD buffs (probably more the PS3 than 360 due to integration).
Oh yeah, and how could I forget Guitar Hero III? All three systems. It will be interesting to see which system gets the highest sales for this.
And the DS will still outsell everything. It prints money, after all. (And the DS is getting a Guitar Hero, too)
Barring a drink, how can we help the campaign financially? I know that there have been ways stated previously, but I forget. I've already made my donation to the EFF, but is there a fund or something to keep you and Ms. Lindor on the RIAA's backs?
I can only do like $20, but if half of the registered/. users contributed $5 each, that gives you $2.5M to work with and keep flinging the RIAA's poop back at them. A little from a lot can go a long way.
They have a radio commercial for Halo 3 that ties into some 7-11 slurpee flavor. The announcer talks about you giving strength to Master Chief, then asking where you get your strength. This is followed by a sound effect that is probably intended to be a person trying to suck the last of a slurpee out of a cup, but instead sounds like a long, liquid fart.
I laugh every time. However, I definitely remember the commercial and products, though perhaps not in the way they wanted...
I think it's much more likely that the broadcasters are concerned for one of two reasons:
1) This will give the various companies straight bandwidth to use for pushing their own video content, which has better supported advertising due to targeted ads (you can actually track who sees the ads, and target ads based on content).
2) The various companies listed might put out devices that would act like a rabbit ears for the internet- cable "websites" beamed directly to a box piped to a user's television, only on a more local basis. You don't have direct control over what is currently playing on a certain channel, but the variety of channels is larger. (Just think- a channel with nothing but one show 24/7.)
I have never met someone that had anything good to say about working there, yes even higher up district managers.
Then please, let me be one of the first to say something good about working there.
Earlier in my college career, I worked at Wal-mart for a seasonal term. At the same time, I worked at a Pizza Hut during the lunch shift. The Pizza Hut paid $5.15/hour, minimum wage. Since I had worked there for two years, I got a quarter raise to $5.40/hour. Wal-mart, on the other hand, took me off the street and put me to work at $6.80/hour. It helped that I had prior retail experience and was majoring in CS (since I was working in the electronics department).
My short time there was overall pleasant. The managers were kind and I had a lot of flex for time off (assuming I made sure to do it in advance). The employee discount was nice, and I even got benefits as a seasonal employee, including health and dental. I also had a thing where if I died on the job (lolwut) my folks would get some money from Wal-mart no matter what.
The only thing I didn't like (not even hate) there were the other employees. It didn't help that it was a small city in a small county (where the entire county has two stop lights), but Wal-mart just seemed to pick up a lot of people who were otherwise depressed or sad. Even so, it never really rubbed off on me, and I rather enjoyed my experience there.
Even so, I try never to shop there. It's not the practices, it's not the cheap shit (as in quality), it's not the child labor (guess what, it's not just Wal-mart), but it's their customer base. Wal-mart customers, for the most part, are noisy, ignorant, messy, rude people. I go to Wal-mart as little as possible because I don't want to deal with them. (I find the employees at most Wal-marts are also downtroden, but as to if the company makes them that way I can't say for certain.)
If I needed another hold over job (and it looks like I might soon) I wouldn't mind working for Wal-mart again. I'd try to Target or K-mart first, though.
Controlling the message from public experts so it can be "fixed" by propagandists may not in and of itself be fascist but its certainly a characteristic of commonly known fascist governments.
While the purpose of public relations may be to "fix" or "ease" a message, there is a flip side to this coin- the Engineers may not know the entire story, or are asked questions that don't specifically apply to their job, and the answer they give may be completely wrong or unintentionally inflammatory. (But this is Slashdot, where we know that Engineers and Scientists are never wrong, right?)
As others have said, though, this can work as a gag order. I don't see it as something to get really worked up over, but I don't see it as a good thing, either.
Okay, please give me a link to a scientifically conducted study that shows negative effects (mental, physical or social) in excess of those of alcohol, for LSD or Ecstasy. I'm sure the information is quite easy to find for things like Crack Cocaine or Heroin, but really, Ecstasy is "fairly safe" (compared to alcohol) and LSD is "very safe" (compared to pretty much any other "drug" (legal or illegal)).
Would you please site sources stating that Ecstasy and LSD is safe, your own personal accounts aside? (They really can't be verified)
I don't necessarily disagree with you (I know very little about those drugs), but you shouldn't ask someone to link to sources, then turn around and post your own "insights" while failing to do what you just asked of others.
I can't fathom why Americans haven't gotten over the idea they everyone else always needs our help.
Because lots of countries lambast us when we don't give the help to places they think need help. The police often escort the ambulance- in the global infrastructure, it is hard to seperate the two.
I'm not saying I agree with this plan, or I don't think we should send assistance to, say, Darfur, but the majority of Americans might stop seeing themselves as saviors of the world if other countries stop calling on them to be just that.
I know you've said that IE is low priority for D2. I don't neccessarily agree, but I know as a web developer that making something cross-browser compatible can be a large pain.
Even so, I ask that a bone be thrown to us IE users- give an option so that our use of D1/D2 is based on our browser. At home I am strictly FireFox except for the smallest subset of sites, so D2 works fine and I use it all the time. At work I am forced into a vanilla IE6 install[1]; reading comments is fine, but if I want to make a comment myself or mod a post I have to log in and deal with the IE-broken D2. I have three options:
1) Log in, do what I want, log out to continue reading (like I'm doing now) 2) Set my profile to not use D2 when at work and turn it on again at home 3) Create an alternate log in to use only while at work (this would require syncing with this account)
All of these are rather annoying and I'd prefer not to deal with them. I imagine I'm not the only one with this problem. The idea I have is that you have three options in your account: no D2, always D2, and D2 based on Browser. For the final option, a quick check is done prior to loading to see if the browser is IE or not, then choose which discussion method to use based on that.
I'm not familiar with Slashcode, so I don't know how trivial it would be to implement, but it's a feature I could really use. It would also be a benefit for those who use other legacy browsers for whatever reason.
[1] Yes, I've tried stuff like Portable Firefox. I made the mistake of showing a page to supervisor while using it, and now they're constantly checking to see if I'm using it. Policies are very strict around here.
I understand the controversy about promoting creationism in schools. I agree with the side that says that, if anything, it should be in some class about various religions and nothing more.
However, why does their personal belief and exact knowledge have to be challenged on stage like that? If they put more faith in creationism over evolution, that doesn't bother me nearly as much as if they would try to force that belief into schools. Rather, I'd ask how they plan to separate their religious convictions from their government work. It's a little more broad, but covers other things like gay marriage and abortion- and, again, I don't care about their personal convictions on those as much as I do for how they might try to implement them in life. You could follow that up by asking just what their personal convictions are and why they choose to keep them separate (if at all).
And why didn't we propose this for the democrats at their debate? Even if you're trying to prove a point, you should be fair and ask both sides. Maybe some liberals don't "believe" in evolution and are just better at hiding it. Call me crazy, but have you asked them, or are you just assuming that because they're on "your side" they know the "right" answer? I wouldn't be surprised if the liberal candidates were all proponents of evolution (and used the opportunity to take pot shots at the conservatives), but I would be surprised if most of them could name exact time periods for the age of the universe or solar system. I don't care what side of the spectrum someone is on, they should all get the same damn questions, even if some of the answers can easily be guessed.
In short, this is the right idea- question them about their knowledge and how it could affect their job, but you're approaching it in the wrong way.
Five star ratings aren't just abused by the sites that host the software, but often by the people who submit them, as well.
I was recently doing some research on a potential replacement program for limited use at the company I work for. One particular program caught my eye (mainly because I couldn't find competing similar programs), so I tried to find some reviews on it. The only site I found any reviews on was C|Net. The average rating was a 4.something, but I decided to read the reviews to see if any particular bugs they reported might cause problems here.
To my surprise, of the 15 or so reviews I found, 10 were not only positive, but actually used the "negative" boxes to espouse more praise! This in and of itself is very suspicious. I can understand one or two over-zealous users doing that, but 10 of 15 doesn't seem right. Added to this was that most of those were posted one after another, one per day, and had "generic" usernames. Then each account had only one review, the one for that piece of software, and it was made the same day they signed up.
When it comes to reviews I trust "average joes" more than official publications because they are more likely to use it as I would. I don't discount the publications' reviews, but if they say it's bad and Joe says it's good, I'm more likely to go with Joe and give it a try. However, because of reasons like this, I have to make sure to actually read the reviews of users to see just how it fares.
Some sites have set up things to try and combat this. A few web hosting ranking sites display partial IPs (some full) for those who post (anonymously or otherwise) so that users can use their own judgement when reading the reviews- if the same IP is posting a lot of positive reviews for a place, it's likely an inside job.
(We didn't use the program in the end; not because of the reviews, but because their sales department was incompetent and would only set up a demo if we used GoToMyPC. Heh.)
Does it include those retarded "hardcore" tournament players for Super Smash Bros. that demand you only ever use Final Destination, no items, and only allow half the roster? If so, I would like to say that not only do I hope the door hits their ass on the way out, but it also knocks them on their face.
While Sega seems to have some insane fixation with introducing a new and soon-to-be-forgotten character in each Sonic game, no matter how close it is to the basic Sonic platforming game, they still seem to be lacking in the massive amount of characters that now make up RPGs, both playable and NPC. Perhaps it's fanboyish, but I've been a fan of Archie Comic's Sonic the Hedgehog, collecting them since I was 12 or so (about a decade now). In that time, Archie has branched out the Sonic universe immensely, giving BioWare more than enough characters to choose from or adapt, as well as many locations and scenarios.
Even without that, the "critically-acclaimed" Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon from early '90s Saturday mornings has a smaller (although similar) cast of characters.
If they don't want to pull exclusively from the U.S., they could always look to Fleetway's Sonic the Comic from the UK, which I'm not as familiar with.
What I'm getting at here is that if BioWare just makes up a bunch of shit characters instead of pulling from a large pool of already-established characters in the Sonic universe, I will be one very pissed off fan.
Might I suggest - oh I don't know - a REAL JOB? Actually I think you'll need some education on what it takes to pay bills before anyone would hire you..
Is this a troll? I am an intern at a very large corporation doing (admittedly simple) internal programming. Is that no longer considered a real job on/.? Also, I can handle my bills just fine- it's why I have no money. I only earn money six months out of the year, and much of that has to support me the other six.
Besides, the EFF isn't the only group looking out for my interests- I'm not a card carrying member, but the NRA sits decently with me.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I know that depriving someone else of their property is not quite the same as downloading a digital copy, but that's the point you're making- if you can't afford it, you should have it anyway. This is just bullshit sense-of-entitlement excuses, no better than Nintendo's own quips (Second-hand games are illegal!). Furthermore, if you can't afford the games (even the cheap-ass $20 older ones) then how the hell can you afford a console? It's like buying a nice 40" TV then saying you can't afford cable (at least with a TV you have over-the-air programming, though).
Do people use these things to make legal backups? Sure. Do the majority of people with these use it for such? Doubtful. Games really aren't that expensive. Okay, you want Gears of War? Save $5/month for a year. If you can afford the 360, you can probably afford to stuff $5 in a cookie jar. Maybe you'll have to rent it a bit, or wait, but if you want the game you can do it. And, by the time you have that $60, the price would probably come down a bit. (This isn't even to mention games not yet released, which tend to get hype many months in advance, allowing you to start saving now.)
In Korea, only old people are in charge of Gundam.
My evidence: The state of Alabama.
A Lightsaber game would be no fun if you didn't battle against others with Lightsabers, though. However, you are quite correct that slicing through enemies and thinner metal constructs is a trivial task for a lightsaber, so in that case we could have 1:1 motion.
My thought is that it would be more of a command system than a control system. You swing your Wiimote, and the angle/strength is calculated and sent to the console. Your Jedi/Sith then swings in the calculated direction with calculated speed. If your character is slowed down or stopped by something, one of three things could happen:
1) The character returns their hands to a "default" position. You then have to move your hands to that general area.
2) If you hold your hands at the end of your arc, the character could continue to force their way through it, albeit slower.
3) If the lightsaber reaches a "full stop" position, the character simply turns off the saber, allowing it to continue the arc without stopping, then turns it back on once through.
A lot of people are harking back to Red Steel, saying it can't get better than that, but Metroid Prime 3 showed vast improvement over Red Steel on the FPS angle, and that was with only a year. I'm sure that motion reading can be enhanced, too.
- Random Play Matching
- Lack of Communication in Random
- Small Friend Roster
- Lack of random communication
As I said, we only have preliminary information, so hopefully these will be taken care of before the game's release (though, with but three months to go, I doubt these would make it into the game if they're not already, even if there was a large outcry).I love the idea that random play isn't about stats or ranking. This makes it easier to get into a game just for fun. However, one large problem I see with it right now is uneven matches. Without a ranking system, you could walk into a match and either have your ass handed to you very quickly, or get a complete newbie and have no challenge what so ever (some will delight in this, I don't find it that useful).
I hope that there is a ranking system, but that's it's invisible, and used merely to have good match ups between users. The ranking would likely work the same that it did in Multiplayer for Melee- everyone starts with five stars or so (out of 10), and as you win or lose your star level goes up or down, respectively. Then you only fight with people within one star level of yourself (so someone with eight stars won't be matched to someone with two).
The lack of communication means I won't have to deal with some 12 year old calling me a "fag" when I toss them off a cliff. While being free of annoying idiots during play is great, I'd really love some way to meet up with people after a match, if only to tell them congratulations. Perhaps a system where one person says "I want to contact this player, and these two can contact me", and if two people request/give contact permission the system can hook them up.
Take a look at one of the screenshots that lists "you" and three of your friends. Note the "3/64" in the screenshot. While we can't be sure, some discussion has lead to the idea that you are limited to only 64 friend codes for the game, out of the 250 or so allowed in the Wii system itself.
Another concern that springs to mind is the Law of Kevin Bacon- if your friend invites you and two of his friends, who are not on your machine as friends, to a battle, will the system disallow the match because you are not their "friends" too? That is, can you only battle with people who you have one degree of separation with, regardless of who sets up the match? This seems crazy, but Nintendo can be overzealous about online stuff. ("Think of the children", etc.)
As I said, I like the idea of silent battles, but there are times when it's fun to just bullshit with people. I would think that the ability to "hear" other people could be a user or system preference. Perhaps tie it in with the Wii's Parental Controls.
Most places like Target and Best Buy have had GH demos out for a very long time now, so the mass populace has had some time to check the game out. I often see the demos in use wherever I go, so they are definitely popular. The extra price for the GH controller might turn off some casual Wii owners (who bought a Wii due to the lower price), but I think a lot of Wii owners are going to pick up this title.
This Christmas is going to be interesting as far as sales numbers go. While we dealt with the two new systems last Christmas, things have radically changed in only a year. The Wii still sells out quickly, though stores are able to keep it in stock now, but will that last into the holiday season? Added to this is that two AAA titles, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Brothers Brawl, are coming out before Christmas.
DDR: Hottest Party (Or was it Hottest Dance?) comes out in a few weeks on the Wii, too, and will likely be scooped up in droves by the "casual" gamers as it is yet another way to play games without sitting on the couch.
Then the 360 and PS3 have both had hardware changes and price drops, so the general public will be more receptive. And now that there is a larger selection of high-def movies available, both will be interesting to HD buffs (probably more the PS3 than 360 due to integration).
Oh yeah, and how could I forget Guitar Hero III? All three systems. It will be interesting to see which system gets the highest sales for this.
And the DS will still outsell everything. It prints money, after all. (And the DS is getting a Guitar Hero, too)
Barring a drink, how can we help the campaign financially? I know that there have been ways stated previously, but I forget. I've already made my donation to the EFF, but is there a fund or something to keep you and Ms. Lindor on the RIAA's backs?
/. users contributed $5 each, that gives you $2.5M to work with and keep flinging the RIAA's poop back at them. A little from a lot can go a long way.
I can only do like $20, but if half of the registered
They have a radio commercial for Halo 3 that ties into some 7-11 slurpee flavor. The announcer talks about you giving strength to Master Chief, then asking where you get your strength. This is followed by a sound effect that is probably intended to be a person trying to suck the last of a slurpee out of a cup, but instead sounds like a long, liquid fart.
I laugh every time. However, I definitely remember the commercial and products, though perhaps not in the way they wanted...
I think it's much more likely that the broadcasters are concerned for one of two reasons:
1) This will give the various companies straight bandwidth to use for pushing their own video content, which has better supported advertising due to targeted ads (you can actually track who sees the ads, and target ads based on content).
2) The various companies listed might put out devices that would act like a rabbit ears for the internet- cable "websites" beamed directly to a box piped to a user's television, only on a more local basis. You don't have direct control over what is currently playing on a certain channel, but the variety of channels is larger. (Just think- a channel with nothing but one show 24/7.)
1 is more likely, but 2 would be cool.
They should make a chip out of a potato. A potato chip, if you will.
Or how about a chip out of paint?
Perhaps a chip from someone's shoulder...
Earlier in my college career, I worked at Wal-mart for a seasonal term. At the same time, I worked at a Pizza Hut during the lunch shift. The Pizza Hut paid $5.15/hour, minimum wage. Since I had worked there for two years, I got a quarter raise to $5.40/hour. Wal-mart, on the other hand, took me off the street and put me to work at $6.80/hour. It helped that I had prior retail experience and was majoring in CS (since I was working in the electronics department).
My short time there was overall pleasant. The managers were kind and I had a lot of flex for time off (assuming I made sure to do it in advance). The employee discount was nice, and I even got benefits as a seasonal employee, including health and dental. I also had a thing where if I died on the job (lolwut) my folks would get some money from Wal-mart no matter what.
The only thing I didn't like (not even hate) there were the other employees. It didn't help that it was a small city in a small county (where the entire county has two stop lights), but Wal-mart just seemed to pick up a lot of people who were otherwise depressed or sad. Even so, it never really rubbed off on me, and I rather enjoyed my experience there.
Even so, I try never to shop there. It's not the practices, it's not the cheap shit (as in quality), it's not the child labor (guess what, it's not just Wal-mart), but it's their customer base. Wal-mart customers, for the most part, are noisy, ignorant, messy, rude people. I go to Wal-mart as little as possible because I don't want to deal with them. (I find the employees at most Wal-marts are also downtroden, but as to if the company makes them that way I can't say for certain.)
If I needed another hold over job (and it looks like I might soon) I wouldn't mind working for Wal-mart again. I'd try to Target or K-mart first, though.
As others have said, though, this can work as a gag order. I don't see it as something to get really worked up over, but I don't see it as a good thing, either.
I don't necessarily disagree with you (I know very little about those drugs), but you shouldn't ask someone to link to sources, then turn around and post your own "insights" while failing to do what you just asked of others.
I'm not saying I agree with this plan, or I don't think we should send assistance to, say, Darfur, but the majority of Americans might stop seeing themselves as saviors of the world if other countries stop calling on them to be just that.
I know you've said that IE is low priority for D2. I don't neccessarily agree, but I know as a web developer that making something cross-browser compatible can be a large pain.
Even so, I ask that a bone be thrown to us IE users- give an option so that our use of D1/D2 is based on our browser. At home I am strictly FireFox except for the smallest subset of sites, so D2 works fine and I use it all the time. At work I am forced into a vanilla IE6 install[1]; reading comments is fine, but if I want to make a comment myself or mod a post I have to log in and deal with the IE-broken D2. I have three options:
1) Log in, do what I want, log out to continue reading (like I'm doing now)
2) Set my profile to not use D2 when at work and turn it on again at home
3) Create an alternate log in to use only while at work (this would require syncing with this account)
All of these are rather annoying and I'd prefer not to deal with them. I imagine I'm not the only one with this problem. The idea I have is that you have three options in your account: no D2, always D2, and D2 based on Browser. For the final option, a quick check is done prior to loading to see if the browser is IE or not, then choose which discussion method to use based on that.
I'm not familiar with Slashcode, so I don't know how trivial it would be to implement, but it's a feature I could really use. It would also be a benefit for those who use other legacy browsers for whatever reason.
[1] Yes, I've tried stuff like Portable Firefox. I made the mistake of showing a page to supervisor while using it, and now they're constantly checking to see if I'm using it. Policies are very strict around here.
If everyone stands at the same point, no one can be left behind.
I understand the controversy about promoting creationism in schools. I agree with the side that says that, if anything, it should be in some class about various religions and nothing more.
However, why does their personal belief and exact knowledge have to be challenged on stage like that? If they put more faith in creationism over evolution, that doesn't bother me nearly as much as if they would try to force that belief into schools. Rather, I'd ask how they plan to separate their religious convictions from their government work. It's a little more broad, but covers other things like gay marriage and abortion- and, again, I don't care about their personal convictions on those as much as I do for how they might try to implement them in life. You could follow that up by asking just what their personal convictions are and why they choose to keep them separate (if at all).
And why didn't we propose this for the democrats at their debate? Even if you're trying to prove a point, you should be fair and ask both sides. Maybe some liberals don't "believe" in evolution and are just better at hiding it. Call me crazy, but have you asked them, or are you just assuming that because they're on "your side" they know the "right" answer? I wouldn't be surprised if the liberal candidates were all proponents of evolution (and used the opportunity to take pot shots at the conservatives), but I would be surprised if most of them could name exact time periods for the age of the universe or solar system. I don't care what side of the spectrum someone is on, they should all get the same damn questions, even if some of the answers can easily be guessed.
In short, this is the right idea- question them about their knowledge and how it could affect their job, but you're approaching it in the wrong way.
Five star ratings aren't just abused by the sites that host the software, but often by the people who submit them, as well.
I was recently doing some research on a potential replacement program for limited use at the company I work for. One particular program caught my eye (mainly because I couldn't find competing similar programs), so I tried to find some reviews on it. The only site I found any reviews on was C|Net. The average rating was a 4.something, but I decided to read the reviews to see if any particular bugs they reported might cause problems here.
To my surprise, of the 15 or so reviews I found, 10 were not only positive, but actually used the "negative" boxes to espouse more praise! This in and of itself is very suspicious. I can understand one or two over-zealous users doing that, but 10 of 15 doesn't seem right. Added to this was that most of those were posted one after another, one per day, and had "generic" usernames. Then each account had only one review, the one for that piece of software, and it was made the same day they signed up.
When it comes to reviews I trust "average joes" more than official publications because they are more likely to use it as I would. I don't discount the publications' reviews, but if they say it's bad and Joe says it's good, I'm more likely to go with Joe and give it a try. However, because of reasons like this, I have to make sure to actually read the reviews of users to see just how it fares.
Some sites have set up things to try and combat this. A few web hosting ranking sites display partial IPs (some full) for those who post (anonymously or otherwise) so that users can use their own judgement when reading the reviews- if the same IP is posting a lot of positive reviews for a place, it's likely an inside job.
(We didn't use the program in the end; not because of the reviews, but because their sales department was incompetent and would only set up a demo if we used GoToMyPC. Heh.)
Does it include those retarded "hardcore" tournament players for Super Smash Bros. that demand you only ever use Final Destination, no items, and only allow half the roster? If so, I would like to say that not only do I hope the door hits their ass on the way out, but it also knocks them on their face.
While Sega seems to have some insane fixation with introducing a new and soon-to-be-forgotten character in each Sonic game, no matter how close it is to the basic Sonic platforming game, they still seem to be lacking in the massive amount of characters that now make up RPGs, both playable and NPC. Perhaps it's fanboyish, but I've been a fan of Archie Comic's Sonic the Hedgehog, collecting them since I was 12 or so (about a decade now). In that time, Archie has branched out the Sonic universe immensely, giving BioWare more than enough characters to choose from or adapt, as well as many locations and scenarios.
Even without that, the "critically-acclaimed" Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon from early '90s Saturday mornings has a smaller (although similar) cast of characters.
If they don't want to pull exclusively from the U.S., they could always look to Fleetway's Sonic the Comic from the UK, which I'm not as familiar with.
What I'm getting at here is that if BioWare just makes up a bunch of shit characters instead of pulling from a large pool of already-established characters in the Sonic universe, I will be one very pissed off fan.
Besides, the EFF isn't the only group looking out for my interests- I'm not a card carrying member, but the NRA sits decently with me.