So, there's clearly a legitimate market for "AO" games - and not just ones filled with over-the-top violence and sex.
Name one - just one - created for the unrestricted PC market.
Unfortunately, the ESRB linked their "AO" rating to porn - causing most retailers to vow never to carry those titles due to all the social and legal issues with carrying pornographic items.
The catch phrase for films like "Saw" and "Hostel" is "torture porn." It caught hold so quickly that I think it is fair to say that there is a broad popular consensus that violence can be pornographic.
Insert jokes about "M for mature because it features boobies" here.
In the last ten years there have been many games that have earned an M rating without any show of boobies. What they tend to have in common is a strong narrative and game play that demands adult judgment and self-restraint.
When you're wronged, you want to slap as many people as you can.
It is often the attorney's job to tell you that what can be done is not what you want to do. The D.A. choses the rifle because he is paid to hit the target - not stroke his client's ego.
Perhaps this is a tactic to force a settlement, since every one of their tactics would be placed before a jury, in an atmosphere where they could hardly be despised more
You have a remarkably naive notion of the jury pool, which is typically middle-aged, middle class and small-C conservative.
It is the function of the judge to narrow the issues in dispute, define them for the jury - and to de-fang the advocate who plays too much to emotion.
All I know is, if I'm a juror, those copyrights are G-O-N-E.
You will N-E-V-E-R get the chance to decide that issue. You will only get the chance to decide the narrow factual questions presented by the judge - and the verdict will likely have to be unanimous.
She's not going after RIAA as such, she's going after everyone that makes up the RIAA, read the article: "Atlantic, Priority Records, Capitol Records, UMG and BMG -- the RIAA itself, the Settlement Support Center, and SafeNet"
I'll take it as a general rule that it is better to go into court with a rifle than a shotgun.
Malice - in the legal sense - can be damn hard to prove.
I'll give $10.00 to anyone that sues the RIAA about their mafia tactics.
I am sure another 10,000 people would do the same and yes a hundred grand will go a long way in fighting organized crime like the RIAA.
I am sure there is a lawyer who will take your money - and "take" seems the appropriate word here. Judges - appellate judges - do not throw around words like "organized crime" as carelessly as the geek.
The Great Race [1965] I know, I know. It dates you a little to remember quotes from old movies. But what a cast: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk...
The 1908 New York To Paris race was grand adventure in its own right:
SOMETHING HAD changed during the running: Timid people had come to realize that a car itself was a road, in dreams, and that it might lead anywhere at all.The Longest Race
As a person who makes his living making video games, I find this disturbing. You can't both say that an Adults Only rating isn't censorship, then turn around and censor trailers you don't like... or in this case, contain AO material.
The film and television producer lives with this all the time. Trailers that will reach a general audience are rated for a general audience.
"Freedom of speech" does not mean that you get to post suggestive billboards for your torture porn flick across from every schoolyard. You might win a victory or two in court, but the signs will come down.
Last time I check it was *my* console. I didn't pay a huge chunk of change for them to tell me what I can and cannot play.
The NES hit the American market in 1985. The PlayStation in 1996.
If it hasn't dawned on you by now that AO content was never part of the deal, it never will. It may - someday - dawn on you that ultra-violence and graphic sex is an adolescent obsession and not an adult's.
The older the gaming market becomes, the more games like Manhunt 2 will be pushed into the margins.
I never intended on buying Manhunt 2, and I didn't care or know about the titles in the article. I'm about 100x more likely to take interest in these if only for the fact that they're the ridiculous targets of needless censorship.
Does - anyone - here find it surprising that it was a Take-Two trailer that got the AO rating?
If you can answer that question - truthfully - with a "Yes," congratulations. There is a place for you at Rockstar. For how long is another question.
The Internet isn't owned by the ESRB. But neither is it owned by the gamer-geek.
If YouTube wants no part in distributing AO rated adds for console gaming, tough luck. They are not obliged to let you post anything.
Remember Snakes On A Plane? Cost $32 million to produce. Grossed $62 million world-wide. The Geek got the movie produced. But the Geek couldn't deliver the audience to make it profitable.
The subtext to the above seems to be that this "invention" was some kind of genius. I disagree; this is an obvious and straightforward usage of technology that would have been "invented" by a hundred other people within the span of a few years had not someone else first done it.
The ATM like most inventions is both a social and a technical problem. It has to be understood and trusted by the customer, it has to be understood and trusted by the bank.
The solution to the problem is not a trivial achievement.
Re:Protocols?
on
ATM Turns 40
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I just don't see any benifit to using Windows or CE for an ATM. Maybe they use Visual Basic to write the code for them... Shuddderr......
Microsoft has a very significant presence in the market for embedded systems. There are customized version of Visual Studio. You are not limited to Visual Basic. WindowsEmbedded
Re:Wrong - Not the "first" ATM.
on
ATM Turns 40
·
· Score: 1
A mechanical cash dispenser was developed and built by Luther George Simjian and installed 1939 in New York City by the City Bank of New York, but removed after 6 months due to the lack of customer acceptance.
This doesn't tell me much.
Did you buy tokens and get cash in return?
This is still in the era of pen and paper and - perhaps in New York - punch-card accounting.
In 1939 a trip to the bank usually implied a significant transaction - your monthly mortgage payment, for example, or a cash withdrawal to meet a payroll. You needed a teller.
Yes, I'm certain the only reason that this game is getting an Adults Only rating is because of "past sins"...::rolls eyes::
There is always someone who doesn't get the word:
New installments of the gory "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises have performed poorly at the box office, fueling worries that the genre was fading. Healthy receipts for [Stephen King's] "1408," could signal that audiences were simply shifting away from the gruesome disembowelment stories that have dominated in recent years."Two "Mightys" Disappoint at the Box Office
If there's a foreign national is working with anthrax at a US college
What makes you think it has be a "foreign national?" The Birmingham church bombing in 1963, Oklahoma City in 1995, The Atlanta OLympic Park bombing in 1996. All home-grown acts of terrorism.
showing unusual interest in information outside the job scope..." A true thirst for knowledge will arrouse suspicion?
No.
But if you are working with anthrax you might legitmatly be asked why the sudden interest in weaponizing the disease? In acquiring the necessary technical documents, etc.
Particularly if that aspect of the problem is - far - outside the scope of your own research.
I feel confident stating that the difference between the Wii controller and a real pliers is quite large, and the simulation only works if the user suspends disbelief.
Would you feel the same confidence when the Wii controller is used to slash a throat or mimic multiple stab wounds?
Wouldn't you feel just a little bit uncomfortable when a game begins awarding bonus points or other prizes for the pure sadism of your kills?
The "suspension of disbelief" in easier - and arguably more psychologically dangerous - in an immerse video game or computer simulation than other - more distanced - media.
A non-gamer would inevitably ask why computer simulations are used in the military, medicine, pilot training, etc. - if the experience is as unreal and meaningless as the gamer claims.
A mon-gamer would ask why the politically sensitive Slashdot poster comes out against America's Army.
If they are smart, they can turn this into something big. The sheer curiosity for the forbidden fruit can propel the game in the history books.
Meaning that Rockstar can join Interplay among the legions of the dead.
Rockstar is learning the hard way that it isn't bigger than the ESRB, isn't bigger than Nintendo or WalMart. Life will go on, even if Grand Theft Auto does not.
This only applies to people who are already unstable, assuming that video games actually have that kind of an effect on people.
I can't ignore in this context Gene Wolfe's memorable and disturbing short story "When I Was Ming The Merciless." Arthur C. Clarke was in a similarly reflective and cautious mood when he wrote "I Remember Babylon."
The images projected in Manhunt 2 and other games are merely pictures, and not particularly realistic ones. There is no actual difference between Manhunt 2 where one slaughters oddly shaped representations of people and Space Invaders.
Let's be honest here.
The graphics of Manhunt 2 are not the graphics of Custer's Revenge.
The Wii controller manipulated as a pair of pliers to rip out a man's testicles is not the same experience as the adolescent button-mashing sex play of Hot Coffee.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes.
No.
If the buyer is demanding a VM running Windows then Windows is in the driver's seat - because his must-have apps are Windows only.
His design and marketing teams will get twenty-five spanking-new Mac workstations. The 25,000 others he employs the generic Windows desktop from Dell.
Name one - just one - created for the unrestricted PC market.
Unfortunately, the ESRB linked their "AO" rating to porn - causing most retailers to vow never to carry those titles due to all the social and legal issues with carrying pornographic items.
The catch phrase for films like "Saw" and "Hostel" is "torture porn." It caught hold so quickly that I think it is fair to say that there is a broad popular consensus that violence can be pornographic.
Insert jokes about "M for mature because it features boobies" here.
In the last ten years there have been many games that have earned an M rating without any show of boobies. What they tend to have in common is a strong narrative and game play that demands adult judgment and self-restraint.
It is often the attorney's job to tell you that what can be done is not what you want to do. The D.A. choses the rifle because he is paid to hit the target - not stroke his client's ego.
most civil disputes begin and end in an offer of settlement. extortion doesn't have the same meaning to a judge as it does to the geek.
It can be really, really, difficult to successfully frame a lawsuit as a class action.
You have a remarkably naive notion of the jury pool, which is typically middle-aged, middle class and small-C conservative. It is the function of the judge to narrow the issues in dispute, define them for the jury - and to de-fang the advocate who plays too much to emotion.
All I know is, if I'm a juror, those copyrights are G-O-N-E.
You will N-E-V-E-R get the chance to decide that issue. You will only get the chance to decide the narrow factual questions presented by the judge - and the verdict will likely have to be unanimous.
I'll take it as a general rule that it is better to go into court with a rifle than a shotgun.
Malice - in the legal sense - can be damn hard to prove.
I am sure another 10,000 people would do the same and yes a hundred grand will go a long way in fighting organized crime like the RIAA.
I am sure there is a lawyer who will take your money - and "take" seems the appropriate word here. Judges - appellate judges - do not throw around words like "organized crime" as carelessly as the geek.
More importantly, does she think that a trade association owns the copyrights?
The Great Race [1965] I know, I know. It dates you a little to remember quotes from old movies. But what a cast: Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk...
The 1908 New York To Paris race was grand adventure in its own right:
SOMETHING HAD changed during the running: Timid people had come to realize that a car itself was a road, in dreams, and that it might lead anywhere at all. The Longest Race
The film and television producer lives with this all the time. Trailers that will reach a general audience are rated for a general audience.
"Freedom of speech" does not mean that you get to post suggestive billboards for your torture porn flick across from every schoolyard. You might win a victory or two in court, but the signs will come down.
The NES hit the American market in 1985. The PlayStation in 1996.
If it hasn't dawned on you by now that AO content was never part of the deal, it never will. It may - someday - dawn on you that ultra-violence and graphic sex is an adolescent obsession and not an adult's.
The older the gaming market becomes, the more games like Manhunt 2 will be pushed into the margins.
Too much grief, too little a return.
Does - anyone - here find it surprising that it was a Take-Two trailer that got the AO rating?
If you can answer that question - truthfully - with a "Yes," congratulations. There is a place for you at Rockstar. For how long is another question.
The Internet isn't owned by the ESRB. But neither is it owned by the gamer-geek.
If YouTube wants no part in distributing AO rated adds for console gaming, tough luck. They are not obliged to let you post anything.
Remember Snakes On A Plane? Cost $32 million to produce. Grossed $62 million world-wide. The Geek got the movie produced. But the Geek couldn't deliver the audience to make it profitable.
The same equation works in gaming.
The ATM like most inventions is both a social and a technical problem. It has to be understood and trusted by the customer, it has to be understood and trusted by the bank.
The solution to the problem is not a trivial achievement.
Microsoft has a very significant presence in the market for embedded systems. There are customized version of Visual Studio. You are not limited to Visual Basic. WindowsEmbedded
This doesn't tell me much.
Did you buy tokens and get cash in return?
This is still in the era of pen and paper and - perhaps in New York - punch-card accounting.
In 1939 a trip to the bank usually implied a significant transaction - your monthly mortgage payment, for example, or a cash withdrawal to meet a payroll. You needed a teller.
There is always someone who doesn't get the word:
New installments of the gory "Saw" and "Hostel" franchises have performed poorly at the box office, fueling worries that the genre was fading. Healthy receipts for [Stephen King's] "1408," could signal that audiences were simply shifting away from the gruesome disembowelment stories that have dominated in recent years. "Two "Mightys" Disappoint at the Box Office
What makes you think it has be a "foreign national?" The Birmingham church bombing in 1963, Oklahoma City in 1995, The Atlanta OLympic Park bombing in 1996. All home-grown acts of terrorism.
No.
But if you are working with anthrax you might legitmatly be asked why the sudden interest in weaponizing the disease? In acquiring the necessary technical documents, etc.
Particularly if that aspect of the problem is - far - outside the scope of your own research.
We are headed into July.
To make a holiday release GTA 4 must be ready for rating no later than September.
GTA is franchise gold and GTA 4 is set in New York - as politically potent and charged an environment as you will find anywhere in the western world.
Rockstar cannot afford another screw-up.
You do the math and prove to me that Manhunt 2 isn't a write-off.
Would you feel the same confidence when the Wii controller is used to slash a throat or mimic multiple stab wounds?
Wouldn't you feel just a little bit uncomfortable when a game begins awarding bonus points or other prizes for the pure sadism of your kills?
The "suspension of disbelief" in easier - and arguably more psychologically dangerous - in an immerse video game or computer simulation than other - more distanced - media.
A non-gamer would inevitably ask why computer simulations are used in the military, medicine, pilot training, etc. - if the experience is as unreal and meaningless as the gamer claims.
A mon-gamer would ask why the politically sensitive Slashdot poster comes out against America's Army.
Then they have living been inside a bubble. But bubbles burst.
Rockstar North was based in Scotland. It had connection with the American inner city.
When Miami complained about racial stereotyping, Rockstar execs were shocked, shocked, to learn that their intentions could be so misunderstood.
Meaning that Rockstar can join Interplay among the legions of the dead.
Rockstar is learning the hard way that it isn't bigger than the ESRB, isn't bigger than Nintendo or WalMart. Life will go on, even if Grand Theft Auto does not.
I can't ignore in this context Gene Wolfe's memorable and disturbing short story "When I Was Ming The Merciless." Arthur C. Clarke was in a similarly reflective and cautious mood when he wrote "I Remember Babylon."
Let's be honest here.
The graphics of Manhunt 2 are not the graphics of Custer's Revenge.
The Wii controller manipulated as a pair of pliers to rip out a man's testicles is not the same experience as the adolescent button-mashing sex play of Hot Coffee.