With Half Life 2, if I put the CD into my machine, it is "bound" to that machine. If my son then tries to put it into his machine and activate it, it will terminate my original account's access to the game and *not* grant the other machine access either.
That's amazing! I wonder how come my friend's copy of HL2 works on my machine, then. I can play CS and everything. I guess he got the HL2 CD that doesn't get magically "bound" to a machine upon being placed in the CD tray.
This summer I was watching my nephew, who is seven. His parents (perhaps parents isn't the right word, they're just the people who brought him into this world -- aside from that they really don't do anything that I consider parenting) are very hands-off. In his bedroom he has a TV, VCR, DVD player, Nintendo 64, and a Playstation. He's had all of that in there since he was three years old. When he's at home, his parents make him stay in his room all the time. I guess they figure that he's got enough to do in there, he doesn't really need anything like, oh, I don't know, LOVE and ATTENTION. The result of this sort of neglectful parenting is a kid whose sole interests in life are cartoons and video games.
So, here I was, stuck babysitting this future sociopath. I like to think of myself as a bit of a good influence in his life, and I won't let him spend his time with me just staring into the TV with a controller in his hands. Of course, since that is all he wants to do, it's very difficult to get him to do anything else. I brought the little vampire outside to play in the sun and he acted like I was asking him to murder someone. Here's the worst part: he asked me what there is to do outside. I said, "use your imagination." He replied, "I don't know how."
This kid doesn't know how to PRETEND because his whole life he has been entertained by TV and video games, passive experiences that don't help develop imagination. It's so incredibly sad, because he is a smart kid, and has so much potential that is just wasted because of his upbringing.
I guess this post is somewhat off-topic, but maybe someone somewhere will be helped by this anecdote. Give your kids what they need -- social interaction, love, and attention. Teach them to PLAY and use their IMAGINATION, not to be force-fed whatever drivel is being streamed into their television sets.
One of the reasons that Nintendo is successful with its handheld division is that they make games that are designed so they can be consumed in small doses, making them useful for when you're on the bus, waiting in line, etc. With the PSP, Sony is porting a lot of games that were designed with the living room in mind, and those are games that don't always work well for playing during bathroom breaks. Once Sony starts making good games to play on the toilet, they might start seeing people using their PSPs.
It's a ground-effect vechile, where the stubby wings trap a pocket of air that allow the vechile to "hover" of sorts. They built a few of them before the collapse, mostly intended as fast, below radar troop transports and as naval destroyers.
I believe the Soviets also equipped some of the Ekranoplanes as nuclear missile delivery platforms. It really was a very clever idea; a very fast airplane that can (easily and with stability) fly so close to the surface of the water that it is invisible to radar. The Reds could have easily hopped over and launched a sneak attack on the West coast of the U.S., I think this is one of the reasons that the Soviet design bureaus were given the go-ahead to pursue a ground-effect seaplane.
Why am I not surprised? I played in the open beta, and it was, hands down, the most impressive MMORPG that I've played, ever.
Everything in the game smacked of polish, polish, polish. Making a character was super-easy, pretty, and fun to do. From there, getting into the game is a snap, and your first mission is placed right in front of your face. I barely had time to experience any of the multi-player aspect of the game before the beta was over, because I was so busy doing missions.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, it's hard to feel like you're on a level treadmill in this game. The mission system gives the game the feel of a single-player RPG, and the amount of polish/smoothness that Blizzard put in helps retain that feel, but you can't ignore all of those other players running around killing. Despite the hordes of beta-testers, I never once had to wait for a spawn or do any 'spawn-camping' or anything mind-numbing of that sort.
All in all, a great game, and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't have any other priorities (job, family, politics, etc), because once you start playing, all of those other not-so-important things in your life (like eating, bathing, and face-to-face socializing) will suddenly not be so important anymore.
I participated in the open beta, and I must say, I was quite impressed. I've played EverQuest, but got sick of the grind after making level 30. I was unfortunate enough to play Anarchy Online on launch, what a nightmare that was. But once it got patched to the point of being playable, it was quite fun. However, it never really offered the community aspects that make an MMORPG worthwhile, so I gave that genre a rest.
Then, I decided to see what all the fuss was about with WoW. I downloaded the open beta client (took me only 4 days) and started playing. I was hooked right from the start. Just getting into the game was a snap, it took less than 45 seconds on my Athlon 1.4GHz, compared to several minutes for EQ and AO. Even creating my character was fun and easy to do, and once I got into the game the environments were beautiful, everything ran smooth (on my dated equipment), and the quests were easy to find and fun to complete. Not to mention the fact that grouping and making friends is a breeze. Unfortunately, the open beta ended 5 days after I finished the download, so I only made it to level 8 with my warrior (and that was with playing one hour a day).
I don't think I'll be buying the game, but the only reason for that is my addictive personality. While I never became much of an EQ addict (though I've seen some of my friends become zombie-like creatures who have sacrificed school, jobs, and even marraiges to get that piece of uber-loot), I can definately see myself getting sucked into this game, and that wouldn't be good for me, my studies, my relationship with my fiance, or our baby daughter. Otherwise, I'd probably be up to level 15 by now!
>My niece can tell me all the wonders of GTA3 and Vice City.
You want to see a cute kid, look at my fiance's nephew... he's 5 years old, and the other day he was in the car with me when we drove past two police officers who had somoene pulled over on the side of the road. He said, "We should put a bomb in between those cop cars!" Where does a five-year-old get that sort of idea?? Did I mention that his parents use a PS2 as his babysitter (even when they're around and could actually be interacting with him), and that Vice City is his favorite game? I hate to think what kind of weirdo he's going to be when he grows up...
being used on the greatest technological achievement of humankind
Now, am I the only one who thinks the space station is not the greatest technological achievement of humankind? To me, the greatest invention is obvious: the Thermos cup. It keeps hot stuff hot, and it keeps cold stuff cold. But how does it know the difference??
For those of you who are more than just superficially interested in the weather, check out the Alaska Experimental Forecast Facility (AEFF) at
http://www.aeff.uaa.alaska.edu
Click where it says 'High-resolution weather forecast products now availabe here' for local discussions and computer-generated ETA/RAMS/GFS plots, plus links galore.
Being an Alaskan, you should be aware more than
most of the risks involved in putting one of these suckers into a village. Surely you remember the drunk gunman in Livengood who decided to do target practice on the oil pipeline. What makes people think something similar won't happen in Galena?
Indeed. Remember The Electric Company? It made learning fun, and you didn't even REALIZE that you were learning. I haven't been able to find anything much like that these days. Sesame Street can't hold the attention of my 5 year old nephew, unlike Spongebob. And the only thing that Spongebob has taught him is that he can roll his eyes up into his head and see his brain.
You need a license to own a dog, but any fool can have a child.
First off, our relationship with naturally occuring forest fires need to change in a big way (and not by cutting down all the trees as our idiotic president suggested recently).
Don't be ridiculous! As Jon Stewart put it on The Daily Show, our forests are DANGEROUSLY full of trees! We must log them.
If you disagree with that, you must be a terrorist. Remember, you're either with us or against us.
My girlfriend is addicted to playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 online. It's actually a lot of fun, up to 8 players skating around at once, there are lots of game modes available, such as trick attack, graffiti, king of the hill, and about 4 or 5 others that I can't recall right now.
Also, THPS3 has online capabilities, but I can't say that I've played much of that since I got number 4. Other games in my collection that are online are Amplitude, which is an awesome game all around, and NFL2K3.
I don't own any console but a friend of mine recommended XBox if I'm into online gaming. He also said that at this point XBox is weak in that department too, but PS2 is much weaker.
Tell him that HE'S WEAK! There are tons of online games for the PS2. The PS2 Network Adapter may not have the flash and pizzazz (shock and awe?) of XBox Live, but you also don't have to pay a $50 start-up fee and then have monthly fees forever.
But how many gamers, or just regular casual gamers, use Linux and only Linux at home?
That number is right around zero, I would say. Hardcore gamers would never choose Linux as their OS, for obvious reasons, and what 'regular casual gamer' has the technical skills to use Linux? Most of that sort can barely use Windows.
Hmm.. well this may seem odd but my kid (5 year old) and I, do play gta vc together, there are several things to do in GTA without being violent, we ussually just cruise around do stunts play taxi and pizza delivery sometimes we ride in the helicopter and do some ambulance and fire truck missions We ussually turn the siren on for no reason.
Oops, we accidently ran that prostitute over! Did you see the bloody tire tracks? Indeed, good fun for the whole family.
My father-in-law decided that it was alright for my 5 year old nephew to play Vice City whenever he comes over, which is pretty much every day. Shortly after he started playing he picked up the nasty habit of stabbing my brother-in-law with pencils/corkscrews/whatever is handy. Now, I don't want to sound like a preachy anti-violence-in-games nut, but I wonder if there might be a connection? There's a reason for those ratings. Not to mention that anytime he plays videogames, violent or not, he turns into a complete terror, screaming and throwing fits about pretty much anything.
You need a license to own a dog, but any fool can have children.
Slashdot Mirror
Obviously, your definition of interesting is quite subjective.
With Half Life 2, if I put the CD into my machine, it is "bound" to that machine. If my son then tries to put it into his machine and activate it, it will terminate my original account's access to the game and *not* grant the other machine access either.
That's amazing! I wonder how come my friend's copy of HL2 works on my machine, then. I can play CS and everything. I guess he got the HL2 CD that doesn't get magically "bound" to a machine upon being placed in the CD tray.
Hold out for the 6800GS. It will be in stores soon, and it performs about as well as the 6800GT, and it'll be cheaper, to boot.
Amen to that!
This summer I was watching my nephew, who is seven. His parents (perhaps parents isn't the right word, they're just the people who brought him into this world -- aside from that they really don't do anything that I consider parenting) are very hands-off. In his bedroom he has a TV, VCR, DVD player, Nintendo 64, and a Playstation. He's had all of that in there since he was three years old. When he's at home, his parents make him stay in his room all the time. I guess they figure that he's got enough to do in there, he doesn't really need anything like, oh, I don't know, LOVE and ATTENTION. The result of this sort of neglectful parenting is a kid whose sole interests in life are cartoons and video games.
So, here I was, stuck babysitting this future sociopath. I like to think of myself as a bit of a good influence in his life, and I won't let him spend his time with me just staring into the TV with a controller in his hands. Of course, since that is all he wants to do, it's very difficult to get him to do anything else. I brought the little vampire outside to play in the sun and he acted like I was asking him to murder someone. Here's the worst part: he asked me what there is to do outside. I said, "use your imagination." He replied, "I don't know how."
This kid doesn't know how to PRETEND because his whole life he has been entertained by TV and video games, passive experiences that don't help develop imagination. It's so incredibly sad, because he is a smart kid, and has so much potential that is just wasted because of his upbringing.
I guess this post is somewhat off-topic, but maybe someone somewhere will be helped by this anecdote. Give your kids what they need -- social interaction, love, and attention. Teach them to PLAY and use their IMAGINATION, not to be force-fed whatever drivel is being streamed into their television sets.
I wonder what this says about their respective users...
Um... absolutely nothing?
You bought it 'for your wife'? Pardon me, but this sounds sort of like buying her a belt sander for your anniversary.
"If you don't like it, I could always use it!"
One of the reasons that Nintendo is successful with its handheld division is that they make games that are designed so they can be consumed in small doses, making them useful for when you're on the bus, waiting in line, etc. With the PSP, Sony is porting a lot of games that were designed with the living room in mind, and those are games that don't always work well for playing during bathroom breaks. Once Sony starts making good games to play on the toilet, they might start seeing people using their PSPs.
It's a ground-effect vechile, where the stubby wings trap a pocket of air that allow the vechile to "hover" of sorts. They built a few of them before the collapse, mostly intended as fast, below radar troop transports and as naval destroyers.
I believe the Soviets also equipped some of the Ekranoplanes as nuclear missile delivery platforms. It really was a very clever idea; a very fast airplane that can (easily and with stability) fly so close to the surface of the water that it is invisible to radar. The Reds could have easily hopped over and launched a sneak attack on the West coast of the U.S., I think this is one of the reasons that the Soviet design bureaus were given the go-ahead to pursue a ground-effect seaplane.
Why am I not surprised? I played in the open beta, and it was, hands down, the most impressive MMORPG that I've played, ever.
Everything in the game smacked of polish, polish, polish. Making a character was super-easy, pretty, and fun to do. From there, getting into the game is a snap, and your first mission is placed right in front of your face. I barely had time to experience any of the multi-player aspect of the game before the beta was over, because I was so busy doing missions.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, it's hard to feel like you're on a level treadmill in this game. The mission system gives the game the feel of a single-player RPG, and the amount of polish/smoothness that Blizzard put in helps retain that feel, but you can't ignore all of those other players running around killing. Despite the hordes of beta-testers, I never once had to wait for a spawn or do any 'spawn-camping' or anything mind-numbing of that sort.
All in all, a great game, and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't have any other priorities (job, family, politics, etc), because once you start playing, all of those other not-so-important things in your life (like eating, bathing, and face-to-face socializing) will suddenly not be so important anymore.
Get your free Nintendo DS! No BS! http://www.ds4free.com/default.aspx?r=64402
I participated in the open beta, and I must say, I was quite impressed. I've played EverQuest, but got sick of the grind after making level 30. I was unfortunate enough to play Anarchy Online on launch, what a nightmare that was. But once it got patched to the point of being playable, it was quite fun. However, it never really offered the community aspects that make an MMORPG worthwhile, so I gave that genre a rest.
Then, I decided to see what all the fuss was about with WoW. I downloaded the open beta client (took me only 4 days) and started playing. I was hooked right from the start. Just getting into the game was a snap, it took less than 45 seconds on my Athlon 1.4GHz, compared to several minutes for EQ and AO. Even creating my character was fun and easy to do, and once I got into the game the environments were beautiful, everything ran smooth (on my dated equipment), and the quests were easy to find and fun to complete. Not to mention the fact that grouping and making friends is a breeze. Unfortunately, the open beta ended 5 days after I finished the download, so I only made it to level 8 with my warrior (and that was with playing one hour a day).
I don't think I'll be buying the game, but the only reason for that is my addictive personality. While I never became much of an EQ addict (though I've seen some of my friends become zombie-like creatures who have sacrificed school, jobs, and even marraiges to get that piece of uber-loot), I can definately see myself getting sucked into this game, and that wouldn't be good for me, my studies, my relationship with my fiance, or our baby daughter. Otherwise, I'd probably be up to level 15 by now!
Get a free Nintendo DS! No BS! http://www.ds4free.com/default.aspx?r=64402
The one I've been using for the last ten years is 'anon@anon.net' -- it's quick, easy, and to the point.
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's the best they're going to feel all day.
>My niece can tell me all the wonders of GTA3 and Vice City.
You want to see a cute kid, look at my fiance's nephew... he's 5 years old, and the other day he was in the car with me when we drove past two police officers who had somoene pulled over on the side of the road. He said, "We should put a bomb in between those cop cars!" Where does a five-year-old get that sort of idea?? Did I mention that his parents use a PS2 as his babysitter (even when they're around and could actually be interacting with him), and that Vice City is his favorite game? I hate to think what kind of weirdo he's going to be when he grows up...
being used on the greatest technological achievement of humankind
Now, am I the only one who thinks the space station is not the greatest technological achievement of humankind? To me, the greatest invention is obvious: the Thermos cup. It keeps hot stuff hot, and it keeps cold stuff cold. But how does it know the difference??
Brilliant idea, Mike. Now I won't have to be so paranoid whenever I'm running those bags of weed around town.
You need a license to have a dog, but any fool can have a child.
Being an Alaskan, you should be aware more than most of the risks involved in putting one of these suckers into a village. Surely you remember the drunk gunman in Livengood who decided to do target practice on the oil pipeline. What makes people think something similar won't happen in Galena?
The first thing I do when I buy a game with a CD-Key is take out my trusty Sharpie pen and write the key on the CD.
You need a license to have a dog, but any fool can have a child!
Yes. Markup. Do you really think Bombardier spends $15 million building a new Learjet?
Nevertheless, I wonder who would be willing to strap themselves into a space vehicle that cost 'only' $1 million to develop.
at best, a videogame can help you realize that there are many other worlds to explore besides this generally-accepted-as-ultimate physical one.
But is spending 7 hours a day exploring the world of EverQuest really that productive or mind-expanding?
Indeed. Remember The Electric Company? It made learning fun, and you didn't even REALIZE that you were learning. I haven't been able to find anything much like that these days. Sesame Street can't hold the attention of my 5 year old nephew, unlike Spongebob. And the only thing that Spongebob has taught him is that he can roll his eyes up into his head and see his brain.
You need a license to own a dog, but any fool can have a child.
We've upped our standards. So up yours.
First off, our relationship with naturally occuring forest fires need to change in a big way (and not by cutting down all the trees as our idiotic president suggested recently).
Don't be ridiculous! As Jon Stewart put it on The Daily Show, our forests are DANGEROUSLY full of trees! We must log them.
If you disagree with that, you must be a terrorist. Remember, you're either with us or against us.
Humboldt County? Screw you, hippie!
So what good online games does PS2 have?
My girlfriend is addicted to playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 online. It's actually a lot of fun, up to 8 players skating around at once, there are lots of game modes available, such as trick attack, graffiti, king of the hill, and about 4 or 5 others that I can't recall right now.
Also, THPS3 has online capabilities, but I can't say that I've played much of that since I got number 4. Other games in my collection that are online are Amplitude, which is an awesome game all around, and NFL2K3.
I don't own any console but a friend of mine recommended XBox if I'm into online gaming. He also said that at this point XBox is weak in that department too, but PS2 is much weaker.
Tell him that HE'S WEAK! There are tons of online games for the PS2. The PS2 Network Adapter may not have the flash and pizzazz (shock and awe?) of XBox Live, but you also don't have to pay a $50 start-up fee and then have monthly fees forever.
But how many gamers, or just regular casual gamers, use Linux and only Linux at home?
That number is right around zero, I would say. Hardcore gamers would never choose Linux as their OS, for obvious reasons, and what 'regular casual gamer' has the technical skills to use Linux? Most of that sort can barely use Windows.
Did you ever wonder what life would be like?
Hmm.. well this may seem odd but my kid (5 year old) and I, do play gta vc together, there are several things to do in GTA without being violent, we ussually just cruise around do stunts play taxi and pizza delivery sometimes we ride in the helicopter and do some ambulance and fire truck missions We ussually turn the siren on for no reason.
Oops, we accidently ran that prostitute over! Did you see the bloody tire tracks? Indeed, good fun for the whole family.
My father-in-law decided that it was alright for my 5 year old nephew to play Vice City whenever he comes over, which is pretty much every day. Shortly after he started playing he picked up the nasty habit of stabbing my brother-in-law with pencils/corkscrews/whatever is handy. Now, I don't want to sound like a preachy anti-violence-in-games nut, but I wonder if there might be a connection? There's a reason for those ratings. Not to mention that anytime he plays videogames, violent or not, he turns into a complete terror, screaming and throwing fits about pretty much anything.
You need a license to own a dog, but any fool can have children.