I Am Not A Level Designer, but I am quite an accomplished connesiour thereof. Being as such, i've not really touched the tools of the trade. However, being a 30 hour a week consumer of your trade I think a good way to make your levels and maps stand out above everyone else's would be to have a bit of noteriaty attached.
Do this by getting your map into the rotation a popular online game server.
I think Desert Combat would be just the game to make a map for.
If you make maps for the top ten games listed on the following website's you should have a fairly impressive portfolio: more to that, get those maps in rotation and a couple endorsements by game dev's and your resume should have good boyancy.
http://www.gamespy.com/stats/
*end advice, begin explanation
Desert combat and BF1942 are unique amoung shooters in that their maps are so immense, yet detailed. The engine developed for this game is called Refractor 2, and while not the prettiest of engines availble it is certainly the best performing large-scale engine. Desert Combat is also wildly popular, and rightly so; it's freaking so much fun.
A Battlefield sized map allows you to show off your ability to think on a large scale: the maps are much bigger than any quake 3 maps; really more of worlds when you think about it.
I recommend hoping on teamspeak with some of the LAG (lake area gamers) guys. They run two very popular servers and are a good natured lot. Now and then you'll even catch a developer hanging out.
Getting the endorsment of developers and server admins has to be worth something (the guys that designed the wolfenstein map Market Garden http://www.splashdamage.com/ got that same map included in the official map pack.pk3 download linked on id's website).
Anyhoo, the best way to smooze with this lot is to play the game well and work as a team. If you're lucky they'll offer your map for download and might try it out in rotation.
Of course, this is just my own speculation and easier said than done.
Advice is easy to give, but it's also easy to say good luck! 8D
Of course, follow your own tastes. What games do you enjoy playing the most? What games have been your favorite? This is You.
Never get stuck doing something for the money above your own personal satisfaction.
I always wondered, why can't someone older than, but with the same name as, johnny depp claim intellectual property rights to www.johnnydepp.com ?
After all, older johnny had the name before younger famous johhny...right?
I mean, couldn't these sued-squatters at least have bought a fish, named him j.r.r and claimed the website was about their sea creature? would that have been all they needed to retain rights? or would they have needed a dog? perhaps a little boy?
I ask, because I know for a fact that there is another celine dion out there, and in my opinion she has just as much right to celinedion.com as the famous one who successfully sued for it (but has not the money as the vegas-diva name-counterpart).
heck, isn't there another j.r.r tolkien out there with rights to this domain? are any of the hiers even named j.r.r or John Ronald Reuel Tolkien for that matter ?....well, actually probably not...actually, there is probably never going to be anyone named that again (considering the google search of ""John Ronald Reuel" -tolkien -tolkin -tolkein"" still yielded hobbit-rich results)...........but you see my point!
ah, the shackles of the internet are starting to leave marks.....
look at the middle of the desert in arizona compared to where the rover landed..notice any similarities?
Both are pretty boring.
But dig around in arizona and you find out that millions of years ago dinosaurs walked around and big ass insects were prevelant.
Huge dragonflys, t-rex, and a catostrophic extinction level event: not so boring.
The rover is a robot scientist, not a freaking action movie director.
in a few years we might get that cool flying probe. It is expected to coast around snapping pics of the Valles Marineris canyon system, which is almost as deep as the grand canyon:P
Those pics will be more "surface-level" cool.
But unfortunately, for the time being, only those with imagination will be able to fully apprecieate these pictures with the awe they deserve.
You really miss alot with 2d. The second to last image you can see the white JPL box (I assume is some central processing or signal routing unit..maybe it's a power junction). it looks very flat in 2d, but in 3d it jumps out at you and you can't help but think that a few months ago someone plugged those cables in, and now that plastic and metal is on mars! It's actually there right now!
oooh, my eyes, my head..........I need those stereoscopic glasses.
The most tantilizing thing about mars, to me, is the whole terraforming question.
Governor Schwarzenegger and memory implanting aside, mars does seems to be a very fertile place for experimentation on a global scale.
Now the question is; should we leave mars as sterile as we find it?
or should we do as we do to most fertile places and set up a homestead?
What kind of an ethical question is that I ask.
Now, i've been told I should "always end your stories a sentence earlier" - but I can't help but speculate about the role mars is going to play in our future.
What says we cant begin genetically designing flora and fauna for this new world. Or are we the species that likes to just plant the biological seed and see what happens?
It's a held notion that isolation encourages evolution. Could 10 generations of martian-humans start to show some kind of trait difference? Would we even need to dabble in earths biology at all for life to be able to gain a foot hold on mars?
This is the time to be alive, at the beggining of the story.
I just wish I had a near-lightspeed craft to spend a month in so I could see what happens next century:D
I'll be honest, I'm remarkably elated by this whole thing. Mostly because of this huge response on slashdot.
I watched the final seconds countdown on space.com. After they dissapeared, I just imagined what was happening, right then, right now, so far away (bouncy bouncy bouncy).
Then I went to google news. Waited, waited (f5, f5). The first news post I got was by rueters; a little 2 paragraph blurb.
Then I packed up and headed home (I live 20 minutes from work). When I got home I checked news.google.com and was happy to see abc.com and a slew of others getting updates up to thier web servers.
then I checked slashdot and was so happy that so many people had already posted (130 at present), in those short 20 minutes.
I know geeks are suckers for space stuff as is, but I must say that it is encouraging that there is such excitement about. That's all it takes, excitement....well, and a couple billion dollars, and hundreds of great thinkers, and a dash or two of luck. But those all come with enough excitement.
Now for fusion, space planes, space elevators and such (or space teathers).
It is just tantilizing that out there, in our solar system, is another ocean.
One in which you could actually swim (lack of oxygen aside and all)! geniune water, at a comfortable temperature...well, at least in a thin layer (below which is seething boiling death and above, vacuum-of-space freezing).
The chances that this moon harbors life seem high. After all, we are all familiar with deep oceanic hydro-thermal vents and the bleached beasties that find the lightless life appealing.
It is my dearest hope that someday a probe will melt down a few miles, pop into this blackened world, and turn on it's lights to discover mile-long whale-like creatures.
Of course, it's most likely we will only find bacteria and other single celled dudes. But complex organisms are so much more cool...and kinda freaky.
But sadly, as it is with this universe, I have the sinking suspicion that europa will ultimately yield nothing more than the biggest cache of sterile water known to man.
Let us not also forget, intelligent life evolving in an environment where the outside universe is completely obscured by miles and miles of pitch-black ice might not be ready for the rest of the universe just yet.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hstoma1105,0,7531912.story?coll=ny-health-headlines
such ironic irony.
(text below)
To reduce the risk of prostate cancer, it may take the whole tomato.
New research on rats suggests eating whole tomatoes can reduce prostate cancer deaths more effectively than taking supplements of lycopene, a chemical found in tomatoes that has been associated with lower prostate cancer risk.
Several earlier studies in humans had found a link between high lycopene blood levels and a lower risk of prostate cancer, but it was not clear whether lycopene was the effective agent or whether it simply signified tomato consumption.
The new research suggests lycopene acts in concert with other nutrients in the tomato, creating a synergistic effect, said study author John W. Erdman, a professor of food science and human nutrition at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Lycopene is a carotenoid, a type of antioxidant that plays a role in disease resistance and includes beta-carotene, found in carrots and dark leafy greens like kale.
"Lycopene clearly contributes to lower risk, but we never believed it was a magic bullet," Erd.man said. "There are a number of other good things in tomatoes," including other carotenoids and vitamins C and E, to mention just a few.
"This study suggests that taking lycopene as a dietary supplement is not as effective as eating whole tomatoes," he said, encouraging the consumption of tomato products in pasta, salad, juice, even pizza.
The study, co-authored by Dr. Steven K. Clinton, professor of hematology and oncology and nutrition at Ohio State University in Columbus, was published in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a peer-reviewed journal.
It is one of a number of studies that have raised questions about whether the benefits of nutrients like antioxidants can be bottled.
Jeffrey Blumberg, a researcher at Tufts University's The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and a self-described "advocate of rational diet supplementation," said the question of food versus supplements doesn't necessarily have an either-or answer.
"No one ever suggested supplements are a substitute for eating whole food. They are what they say they are -- supplements to a diet," he said. It is easier to absorb lycopene when tomatoes are pureed or sauteed, he said.
As part of Erdman's 14-month study, researchers treated 194 rats with a carcinogen to induce prostate cancer, and then assigned them to a diet of either whole tomato powder, pure lycopene or a control group.
The rats that consumed the tomato powder had a 26 percent lower risk of prostate cancer death than the control rats, researchers found. While 80 percent of the control group died of prostate cancer, 72 percent of those on lycopene died, and only 62 percent of rats on tomato powder died.
Half of each group had a diet of 80 percent of the average daily food intake, which also was found to lower the risk of developing prostate cancer.
I had this discussion with a friend of mine once, is chess just a larger more complex type of tic-tac-toe?
I mean, it is possible to end in a stalemate after all. Is it at least concievable that the only way to assure not losing is to simply create a cats game?
would this explain the large amounts of draws we are seeing here? Is it an eventuality that someday computer vs computer and computer vs man games will all end in stalemates?
Any non golfer (such as myself) will be bored to death watching golf on tv.
My point: Golfers watch golf because they are golfers. The columbine kids played violent games because the kids were violent people.
Playing the game did not make them violent. If thier parents had done a better job and took notice of thier kids gun collections, the SWASHTIKAS on thier walls and the animal abuse they commited maybe those nice boys would have been playing mario golf instead of doom.
Or at least maybe they wouldn't have killed thier classmates.
Now I'm not saying that anyone who plays a violent video game is violent. What I am saying is that this is the reason THESE particular kids played this game.
I played doom because it looked cool, was fairly scary, and presented a good challenge. I think this fairly sums up the criteria for most gamers. The gore? it just looks cool. In real life, gore is a lot less cool. Just like in real life a car chase is a lot less fun.
These sick little fscks at columbine played the game because it allowed them to kill. To them, this video game was an extension of thier real life wishes.
Remember a clockwork orange while when reading the bible, rather than identifying with christ the protagonist identified with the romans?
This is what I am talking about. The same thing meaning two entirely different things to different people.
The trick is determining for who the game is mere fun, and for who the game is an extension of real life desires.
When I was studying for my MCSE I took the compiled html version of my textbook, copied and pasted it into a speech synthesis program (text aloud mp3) and played it back at 200 words per minute.
It was remarkable how easy it was to digest the knowledge, even at that speed. I think that perhaps the synthetic voices allowed a bit more clairity than an actual human voice; as the synthisized voice does not use contractions like we're and you're (fairly Commander Data-esqe).
To augment the process I would read-along in my book with the voice and discovered that by stimulating more of my sensory input (and in my theory getting more regions of my brain active) I was able to plow through my books like a troop landing craft through a river.
perhaps this method of study, using both my eyes and ears (ocipital and temporal lobe) was so succesful because humans are supposed to learn, not just via one medium, but through as many sensory inputs as possible.
I remember hearing that smell can trigger very strong memories (makes sense since food is first smelt before consumed to verify it is healthy and unlikely to kill), perhaps by using scents along with lessons, learning can be further augmented.
The space elevator makes so much sense it's amazing we even made a space shuttle at all.
The way I look at it is this. We have been shooting humans into space atop monolithic, ubelievably dangerous explosive devices. A rocket is an explosive device.
If space were a cliff and we wanted to get on top, the current way we are doing it is by laying a board over a fulcrum, sitting a guy on one end and dropping a volkswagen on the other. Boing! he flys through the air and rolls to a stop atop the cliff. How does he get down? he jumps and hopes to land on a soft spot. Lots, LOTS can go wrong, and death is almosts as likely as success.
The space elevator is the equivalent of (rather than launching someone up) throwing a rope and hook up the cliff face, securing it, and then weaving a rope ladder.
Higher success, cheaper (no volkswagen involved), and safer (though less exciting and dramatice albeit).
Look, I can take a tank out onto the playing field right now, and I doubt that any players are going to get very far with the ball.
My point; of course we have machines that can outperform humans, had em for a while. But they can only outperform us within very limited criteria.
for instance, a backhoe can dig much faster than I, but I don't think it can dig as precisely as I can. A car can go much faster than me, but not up a very steep rock face.
so I think the point of a robotic soccer game is to show a machine with many of the abilities of a human. Also, I think any machine playing soccer against a human must have at least legs. And currently there are not very many dexterious machines with legs.
How is modding your X-Box illegal under the DCMA? I don't doubt that somehow it is (Frankly I wouldn't be suprised if having a dream with a top 100 song in it is illegal too) but is it only illegal if you actually use it for infringement purposes, or is the modification of the device itself illegal?
if the actual harware mod is illegal then WTF? I should be able to do whatever I want with my hardware (physically). I bought it, I own it. I can hit it repeatedly with a bat If I wish. I can dunk it in a bathtub full of milk, I can throw it through any window in my house I so choose (That is if I own the house, but If I have enough income to fill a tub with milk then I think I would have enough money own the house (maybe in this example I own a barn)).
Good point made about this dark future. While on the surface the matrix is a prison, it is a prison in which you can fly, dodge bullets and jump into the chests of your enemies (without all the trouble that comes with your run of the mill prison made psychedelics).
all I want to know is, if there are hovering robots and a computer reality, is there no space capability? I mean, why don't the machines just purge the faulty human batteries and move into space? plenty of solar power, plenty of room. Besides, regardless of the number of humans you have powering your MMOR (Massive Multiplayer Online Reality) I cannot help but speculate that a nuclear reactor has a great deal more potential for raw power than small to mid-sized mammals...But what kind of a movie is that right?
Combining two devices into one may very well sacrifice a few good features, but drop a satellite phone uplink in the mix and you have a very portable production studio.
Slashdot Mirror
I Am Not A Level Designer, but I am quite an accomplished connesiour thereof. Being as such, i've not really touched the tools of the trade. However, being a 30 hour a week consumer of your trade I think a good way to make your levels and maps stand out above everyone else's would be to have a bit of noteriaty attached.
.pk3 download linked on id's website).
Do this by getting your map into the rotation a popular online game server.
I think Desert Combat would be just the game to make a map for.
If you make maps for the top ten games listed on the following website's you should have a fairly impressive portfolio: more to that, get those maps in rotation and a couple endorsements by game dev's and your resume should have good boyancy.
http://www.gamespy.com/stats/
*end advice, begin explanation
Desert combat and BF1942 are unique amoung shooters in that their maps are so immense, yet detailed. The engine developed for this game is called Refractor 2, and while not the prettiest of engines availble it is certainly the best performing large-scale engine. Desert Combat is also wildly popular, and rightly so; it's freaking so much fun.
A Battlefield sized map allows you to show off your ability to think on a large scale: the maps are much bigger than any quake 3 maps; really more of worlds when you think about it.
I recommend hoping on teamspeak with some of the LAG (lake area gamers) guys. They run two very popular servers and are a good natured lot. Now and then you'll even catch a developer hanging out.
Getting the endorsment of developers and server admins has to be worth something (the guys that designed the wolfenstein map Market Garden http://www.splashdamage.com/ got that same map included in the official map pack
Anyhoo, the best way to smooze with this lot is to play the game well and work as a team. If you're lucky they'll offer your map for download and might try it out in rotation.
Of course, this is just my own speculation and easier said than done.
Advice is easy to give, but it's also easy to say good luck! 8D
Of course, follow your own tastes. What games do you enjoy playing the most? What games have been your favorite? This is You.
Never get stuck doing something for the money above your own personal satisfaction.
it would be the first slashdotting directly resulting in profit...EVER.
Eat that moon hoaxers!!!....
oh, they'll still think it's a hoax won't they???
I always wondered, why can't someone older than, but with the same name as, johnny depp claim intellectual property rights to www.johnnydepp.com ?
......but you see my point!
After all, older johnny had the name before younger famous johhny...right?
I mean, couldn't these sued-squatters at least have bought a fish, named him j.r.r and claimed the website was about their sea creature? would that have been all they needed to retain rights? or would they have needed a dog? perhaps a little boy?
I ask, because I know for a fact that there is another celine dion out there, and in my opinion she has just as much right to celinedion.com as the famous one who successfully sued for it (but has not the money as the vegas-diva name-counterpart).
heck, isn't there another j.r.r tolkien out there with rights to this domain? are any of the hiers even named j.r.r or John Ronald Reuel Tolkien for that matter ?....well, actually probably not...actually, there is probably never going to be anyone named that again (considering the google search of ""John Ronald Reuel" -tolkien -tolkin -tolkein"" still yielded hobbit-rich results).....
ah, the shackles of the internet are starting to leave marks.....
look at the middle of the desert in arizona compared to where the rover landed..notice any similarities?
:P
Both are pretty boring.
But dig around in arizona and you find out that millions of years ago dinosaurs walked around and big ass insects were prevelant.
Huge dragonflys, t-rex, and a catostrophic extinction level event: not so boring.
The rover is a robot scientist, not a freaking action movie director.
in a few years we might get that cool flying probe. It is expected to coast around snapping pics of the Valles Marineris canyon system, which is almost as deep as the grand canyon
Those pics will be more "surface-level" cool.
But unfortunately, for the time being, only those with imagination will be able to fully apprecieate these pictures with the awe they deserve.
breathtaking...and a bit headache inducing ;)
seriously though, fantastic.
You really miss alot with 2d. The second to last image you can see the white JPL box (I assume is some central processing or signal routing unit..maybe it's a power junction). it looks very flat in 2d, but in 3d it jumps out at you and you can't help but think that a few months ago someone plugged those cables in, and now that plastic and metal is on mars! It's actually there right now!
oooh, my eyes, my head..........I need those stereoscopic glasses.
The most tantilizing thing about mars, to me, is the whole terraforming question.
:D
Governor Schwarzenegger and memory implanting aside, mars does seems to be a very fertile place for experimentation on a global scale.
Now the question is; should we leave mars as sterile as we find it?
or should we do as we do to most fertile places and set up a homestead?
What kind of an ethical question is that I ask.
Now, i've been told I should "always end your stories a sentence earlier" - but I can't help but speculate about the role mars is going to play in our future.
What says we cant begin genetically designing flora and fauna for this new world. Or are we the species that likes to just plant the biological seed and see what happens?
It's a held notion that isolation encourages evolution. Could 10 generations of martian-humans start to show some kind of trait difference?
Would we even need to dabble in earths biology at all for life to be able to gain a foot hold on mars?
This is the time to be alive, at the beggining of the story.
I just wish I had a near-lightspeed craft to spend a month in so I could see what happens next century
I'll be honest, I'm remarkably elated by this whole thing. Mostly because of this huge response on slashdot.
I watched the final seconds countdown on space.com. After they dissapeared, I just imagined what was happening, right then, right now, so far away (bouncy bouncy bouncy).
Then I went to google news. Waited, waited (f5, f5). The first news post I got was by rueters; a little 2 paragraph blurb.
Then I packed up and headed home (I live 20 minutes from work). When I got home I checked news.google.com and was happy to see abc.com and a slew of others getting updates up to thier web servers.
then I checked slashdot and was so happy that so many people had already posted (130 at present), in those short 20 minutes.
I know geeks are suckers for space stuff as is, but I must say that it is encouraging that there is such excitement about. That's all it takes, excitement....well, and a couple billion dollars, and hundreds of great thinkers, and a dash or two of luck. But those all come with enough excitement.
Now for fusion, space planes, space elevators and such (or space teathers).
It is just tantilizing that out there, in our solar system, is another ocean.
One in which you could actually swim (lack of oxygen aside and all)! geniune water, at a comfortable temperature...well, at least in a thin layer (below which is seething boiling death and above, vacuum-of-space freezing).
The chances that this moon harbors life seem high. After all, we are all familiar with deep oceanic hydro-thermal vents and the bleached beasties that find the lightless life appealing.
It is my dearest hope that someday a probe will melt down a few miles, pop into this blackened world, and turn on it's lights to discover mile-long whale-like creatures.
Of course, it's most likely we will only find bacteria and other single celled dudes. But complex organisms are so much more cool...and kinda freaky.
But sadly, as it is with this universe, I have the sinking suspicion that europa will ultimately yield nothing more than the biggest cache of sterile water known to man.
Let us not also forget, intelligent life evolving in an environment where the outside universe is completely obscured by miles and miles of pitch-black ice might not be ready for the rest of the universe just yet.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hstoma1105,0 ,7531912.story?coll=ny-health-headlines
such ironic irony.
(text below)
To reduce the risk of prostate cancer, it may take the whole tomato.
New research on rats suggests eating whole tomatoes can reduce prostate cancer deaths more effectively than taking supplements of lycopene, a chemical found in tomatoes that has been associated with lower prostate cancer risk.
Several earlier studies in humans had found a link between high lycopene blood levels and a lower risk of prostate cancer, but it was not clear whether lycopene was the effective agent or whether it simply signified tomato consumption.
The new research suggests lycopene acts in concert with other nutrients in the tomato, creating a synergistic effect, said study author John W. Erdman, a professor of food science and human nutrition at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Lycopene is a carotenoid, a type of antioxidant that plays a role in disease resistance and includes beta-carotene, found in carrots and dark leafy greens like kale.
"Lycopene clearly contributes to lower risk, but we never believed it was a magic bullet," Erd.man said. "There are a number of other good things in tomatoes," including other carotenoids and vitamins C and E, to mention just a few.
"This study suggests that taking lycopene as a dietary supplement is not as effective as eating whole tomatoes," he said, encouraging the consumption of tomato products in pasta, salad, juice, even pizza.
The study, co-authored by Dr. Steven K. Clinton, professor of hematology and oncology and nutrition at Ohio State University in Columbus, was published in the current issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a peer-reviewed journal.
It is one of a number of studies that have raised questions about whether the benefits of nutrients like antioxidants can be bottled.
Jeffrey Blumberg, a researcher at Tufts University's The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and a self-described "advocate of rational diet supplementation," said the question of food versus supplements doesn't necessarily have an either-or answer.
"No one ever suggested supplements are a substitute for eating whole food. They are what they say they are -- supplements to a diet," he said. It is easier to absorb lycopene when tomatoes are pureed or sauteed, he said.
As part of Erdman's 14-month study, researchers treated 194 rats with a carcinogen to induce prostate cancer, and then assigned them to a diet of either whole tomato powder, pure lycopene or a control group.
The rats that consumed the tomato powder had a 26 percent lower risk of prostate cancer death than the control rats, researchers found. While 80 percent of the control group died of prostate cancer, 72 percent of those on lycopene died, and only 62 percent of rats on tomato powder died.
Half of each group had a diet of 80 percent of the average daily food intake, which also was found to lower the risk of developing prostate cancer.
Naysay all you like, and for that matter Ayesay as well.
But in the end, won't results speak louder than allegorical assertations?
Since I got my wife to start playing Star Wars Galaxies we've gotten a new computer and have no plans to upgrade our 10 year old tv.
I actually get a bit of the old nausea when I watch anything on mtv (except jackass). Like the real world and such.
Games rock becuase your brain is actually a part of the process.
I would like to see an fMRI of someone watching survivor vs someone playing and FPS like Desert Combat or An MMORPG
I had this discussion with a friend of mine once, is chess just a larger more complex type of tic-tac-toe?
I mean, it is possible to end in a stalemate after all. Is it at least concievable that the only way to assure not losing is to simply create a cats game?
would this explain the large amounts of draws we are seeing here? Is it an eventuality that someday computer vs computer and computer vs man games will all end in stalemates?
And why? Because I dared to dream of my own race of atomic monsters, atomic supermen with octagonal shaped bodies that suck blood...."
Golfers watch golf on tv because they love golf.
Any non golfer (such as myself) will be bored to death watching golf on tv.
My point: Golfers watch golf because they are golfers. The columbine kids played violent games because the kids were violent people.
Playing the game did not make them violent. If thier parents had done a better job and took notice of thier kids gun collections, the SWASHTIKAS on thier walls and the animal abuse they commited maybe those nice boys would have been playing mario golf instead of doom.
Or at least maybe they wouldn't have killed thier classmates.
Now I'm not saying that anyone who plays a violent video game is violent. What I am saying is that this is the reason THESE particular kids played this game.
I played doom because it looked cool, was fairly scary, and presented a good challenge. I think this fairly sums up the criteria for most gamers. The gore? it just looks cool. In real life, gore is a lot less cool. Just like in real life a car chase is a lot less fun.
These sick little fscks at columbine played the game because it allowed them to kill. To them, this video game was an extension of thier real life wishes.
Remember a clockwork orange while when reading the bible, rather than identifying with christ the protagonist identified with the romans?
This is what I am talking about. The same thing meaning two entirely different things to different people.
The trick is determining for who the game is mere fun, and for who the game is an extension of real life desires.
When I was studying for my MCSE I took the compiled html version of my textbook, copied and pasted it into a speech synthesis program (text aloud mp3) and played it back at 200 words per minute.
It was remarkable how easy it was to digest the knowledge, even at that speed. I think that perhaps the synthetic voices allowed a bit more clairity than an actual human voice; as the synthisized voice does not use contractions like we're and you're (fairly Commander Data-esqe).
To augment the process I would read-along in my book with the voice and discovered that by stimulating more of my sensory input (and in my theory getting more regions of my brain active) I was able to plow through my books like a troop landing craft through a river.
perhaps this method of study, using both my eyes and ears (ocipital and temporal lobe) was so succesful because humans are supposed to learn, not just via one medium, but through as many sensory inputs as possible.
I remember hearing that smell can trigger very strong memories (makes sense since food is first smelt before consumed to verify it is healthy and unlikely to kill), perhaps by using scents along with lessons, learning can be further augmented.
but it is powerless against slashdotting!
The space elevator makes so much sense it's amazing we even made a space shuttle at all.
The way I look at it is this. We have been shooting humans into space atop monolithic, ubelievably dangerous explosive devices. A rocket is an explosive device.
If space were a cliff and we wanted to get on top, the current way we are doing it is by laying a board over a fulcrum, sitting a guy on one end and dropping a volkswagen on the other. Boing! he flys through the air and rolls to a stop atop the cliff. How does he get down? he jumps and hopes to land on a soft spot. Lots, LOTS can go wrong, and death is almosts as likely as success.
The space elevator is the equivalent of (rather than launching someone up) throwing a rope and hook up the cliff face, securing it, and then weaving a rope ladder.
Higher success, cheaper (no volkswagen involved), and safer (though less exciting and dramatice albeit).
Look, I can take a tank out onto the playing field right now, and I doubt that any players are going to get very far with the ball.
My point; of course we have machines that can outperform humans, had em for a while. But they can only outperform us within very limited criteria.
for instance, a backhoe can dig much faster than I, but I don't think it can dig as precisely as I can. A car can go much faster than me, but not up a very steep rock face.
so I think the point of a robotic soccer game is to show a machine with many of the abilities of a human. Also, I think any machine playing soccer against a human must have at least legs. And currently there are not very many dexterious machines with legs.
How is modding your X-Box illegal under the DCMA? I don't doubt that somehow it is (Frankly I wouldn't be suprised if having a dream with a top 100 song in it is illegal too) but is it only illegal if you actually use it for infringement purposes, or is the modification of the device itself illegal?
if the actual harware mod is illegal then WTF? I should be able to do whatever I want with my hardware (physically). I bought it, I own it. I can hit it repeatedly with a bat If I wish. I can dunk it in a bathtub full of milk, I can throw it through any window in my house I so choose (That is if I own the house, but If I have enough income to fill a tub with milk then I think I would have enough money own the house (maybe in this example I own a barn)).
Good point made about this dark future. While on the surface the matrix is a prison, it is a prison in which you can fly, dodge bullets and jump into the chests of your enemies (without all the trouble that comes with your run of the mill prison made psychedelics).
all I want to know is, if there are hovering robots and a computer reality, is there no space capability? I mean, why don't the machines just purge the faulty human batteries and move into space? plenty of solar power, plenty of room. Besides, regardless of the number of humans you have powering your MMOR (Massive Multiplayer Online Reality) I cannot help but speculate that a nuclear reactor has a great deal more potential for raw power than small to mid-sized mammals...But what kind of a movie is that right?
Word 97 is not immune
Combining two devices into one may very well sacrifice a few good features, but drop a satellite phone uplink in the mix and you have a very portable production studio.
like two panzershrecks, three max.
Mosiac was released on Albert Einsteins birthday, interesting.