Ok, I know someone already posted a response similar to this under another topic somewhere recently, but I don't remember where, so I'm going to paraphrase and recap.
The reason sound can't be simulated quickly in a game is the same reason light can't. Sure, there are games that have dynamic lighting and so forth, but in terms of actual raytracing, we're just approaching the possibility of having a playable real-time raytraced game - and that would require a behemoth of a machine. Now, think about sound. If I drop a penny in a perfectly cubic room, the penny deforms a bit, as does the floor. The distortion (and return to normal) causes the sound wave. This wave then bounces off of all of the surfaces in the room, including the penny, overlapping, creating harmonics, etc. Even that would be tough to simulate. Now, imagine, for instance, a FPS. Complex, moving, 3D objects, all interacting, all creating sounds that bounce around. While this wouldn't be impossible to simulate, I wouldn't expect it to happen in realtime anytime soon.
I signed up for the Do Not Call list as soon as it became open for registration. About a month after the list went into effect, I got my first phone solicitation. I dutifully collected all of the necessary information - business name, address, phone number - and reported the violation. I was told that a call is not viewed as a solicitation, and is therefore not subject to punishment, unless I actually buy something. Since then, I have received fairly regular solicitation calls. Although the number of calls that I receive is much less than it was before the Do Not Call List went into effect, I feel that I am still without recourse when I receive a phone solicitation. Has anyone actually had success in pursuing penalties as a result of the Do Not Call List, or have other people had the same experience as I have?
I agree with you wholeheartedly, but I don't quite agree with the way you've made your point. Before the Act of 1976, people had no trouble complying with the law because it was difficult not to. Then came the widespread acceptance of recordable tapes, which led to tape copying and a recording industry panic. After that, it was recordable CDs and MP3s getting the RIAA up in arms. When the next big thing comes out, you can be sure that the RIAA will oppose giving any control of it to the consumers if it doesn't include any DRM. The problem is that the law was made before there was any concept of copying or distributing data. There was no data wanting to be free, no way to record off of the radio, and no Napster causing falling sales (of cassingles.) The law needs to be rethought and remade, but with the current RIAA stranglehold over the government, I don't expect it to be in favor of file-sharing. Well, I guess I'll always be on the wrong side of the law, but that's what I get for loving music. The days of the government listening to the people are over. The days of the government kowtowing to corporations has just begun.
I know that this has already been mentioned, so I'll probably be modded redundant, but here's my two cents:
I've always been too smart academically and awful socially. Recently I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (I'm 21 and I was diagnosed 2 years ago.) This essentially means that I struggle to develop an effective theory of mind and lack a certain amount of human empathy. One strategy that has really helped me is to try to understand, to make myself understand, that people are just like me, with thoughts and feelings all the time. I know that this sounds silly and childish, but it works. Actually, the biggest help was "social stories" (and an understanding girlfriend who just happened to write her thesis on Asperger's.) One of the best things that you can do for anyone who is really that socially maladapted is to suggest that he get tested for Asperger's. With the correct diagnosis, assuming that there is a medical reason for his social difficulties, new strategies will open up to him and there will be more resources to seek out.
LucasArts seems to only see to the end of the fiscal year. They want to go with the games they know will be profitable, and by that I mean the Star Wars game du jour. As far back as I can remember, they've been grafting Star Wars onto whatever genre is popular: flight sim (X-Wing/TIE Fighter,) FPS (Dark Forces series,) a somewhat original RTS (the abysmal Force Commander) and a more traditional RTS (Galactic Battlegrounds) to name a few. Oh, not to mention the upcoming squad-level tactical shooter (read: Rainbow Six clone) Republic Commando. As adventure games are in a constant near-death state according to the popular gaming press, I'm not surprised that LucasArts decided to cancel Sam & Max 2. That doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed, however. I'll be writing a letter to LucasArts too. Just don't be surprised when the truly innovative and fun games (Sam & Max 2 and Full Throttle 2) get cancelled in favor of the safe bet that is a Star Wars game.
What Lieberman forgot to mention in his anti-GTA diatribe was that the player is rewarded for doing the same things to men in the game. In fact, I can think of many games in which the player attacks men. What I'm trying to say that if we can be violent against white males, we should be able to be violent against black males, white females, Asian males, Indian females, and anyone else who is out there. (Except for Haitians, we can't kill them.) If everyone wants to be equal, they have to accept equality - good and bad. Women's equality should mean that women are just attackable in GTA as men.
I'll leave you with a quote from PJ O'Rourke:
How much fame, money, and power does a woman have to achieve on her own before you can punch her in the face?
Seriously, I'm sick of this trend. The trailer for the original Alien is still the best one I've ever seen; rather then show you the plot or good glimpses of the monster, all you got were quick shots that let you know that Alien was going to scare the hell out of you. Now we have trailers like the one for the Matrix Reloaded (they showed the best parts of the Hundred-Agent Fight) and this monstrosity for Spiderman 2. I think it would have been much cooler if we had seen Doc Oc's mechanical tentacles walking up... and nothing more. Leave well enough alone; let us know we're getting something cool, but don't show the best parts. Leave some surprises for the actual movie.
Has anyone noticed that Cloud and Sephiroth look alike? It's hard to tell from the small picture of Sephiroth but if Square makes them look alike, they may appeal enough to my fanboy-ness to make me forget The Spirits Within.
Finally, we'll be able to get detailed, close-up pictures of the face on Mars! I'm sure the Weekly World News is scrambling to scoop everyone else in this potentially groundbreaking revelation. I hope that they're able to prove conclusively that, just as theorized by the eminent astronomers behind the classic Mission to Mars, the Earth was indeed seeded by Martians after a cataclysmic meteor strike.
In this episode of the Animatrix, humanity tries to A-bomb the machines into submission. Since we already know that the machines can be disabled with an electromagnetic pulse, why didn't humanity just detonate an A-bomb in the upper atmosphere, a la Goldeneye (an effect based in science, I assure you), and thusly disable the machines without having to resort to blocking out the sun? After all, that would be just as harmful to humanity as it would be to machines.
Yes, there was an Israeli onboard. His name was Ilan Ramon, an Israeli Air Force colonel. He was the first Israeli in space. While it may seem that this made the shuttle a terrorist target, I personally have trouble believing that any terrorist cell is capable of that.
Slashdot Mirror
Buy the boxed set for the extras, or remain secure in my knowledge that Revolutions will never enter my house?
Ok, I know someone already posted a response similar to this under another topic somewhere recently, but I don't remember where, so I'm going to paraphrase and recap.
The reason sound can't be simulated quickly in a game is the same reason light can't. Sure, there are games that have dynamic lighting and so forth, but in terms of actual raytracing, we're just approaching the possibility of having a playable real-time raytraced game - and that would require a behemoth of a machine.
Now, think about sound. If I drop a penny in a perfectly cubic room, the penny deforms a bit, as does the floor. The distortion (and return to normal) causes the sound wave. This wave then bounces off of all of the surfaces in the room, including the penny, overlapping, creating harmonics, etc. Even that would be tough to simulate. Now, imagine, for instance, a FPS. Complex, moving, 3D objects, all interacting, all creating sounds that bounce around. While this wouldn't be impossible to simulate, I wouldn't expect it to happen in realtime anytime soon.
I signed up for the Do Not Call list as soon as it became open for registration. About a month after the list went into effect, I got my first phone solicitation. I dutifully collected all of the necessary information - business name, address, phone number - and reported the violation. I was told that a call is not viewed as a solicitation, and is therefore not subject to punishment, unless I actually buy something. Since then, I have received fairly regular solicitation calls. Although the number of calls that I receive is much less than it was before the Do Not Call List went into effect, I feel that I am still without recourse when I receive a phone solicitation. Has anyone actually had success in pursuing penalties as a result of the Do Not Call List, or have other people had the same experience as I have?
I agree with you wholeheartedly, but I don't quite agree with the way you've made your point. Before the Act of 1976, people had no trouble complying with the law because it was difficult not to. Then came the widespread acceptance of recordable tapes, which led to tape copying and a recording industry panic. After that, it was recordable CDs and MP3s getting the RIAA up in arms. When the next big thing comes out, you can be sure that the RIAA will oppose giving any control of it to the consumers if it doesn't include any DRM. The problem is that the law was made before there was any concept of copying or distributing data. There was no data wanting to be free, no way to record off of the radio, and no Napster causing falling sales (of cassingles.) The law needs to be rethought and remade, but with the current RIAA stranglehold over the government, I don't expect it to be in favor of file-sharing. Well, I guess I'll always be on the wrong side of the law, but that's what I get for loving music. The days of the government listening to the people are over. The days of the government kowtowing to corporations has just begun.
I know that this has already been mentioned, so I'll probably be modded redundant, but here's my two cents:
I've always been too smart academically and awful socially. Recently I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (I'm 21 and I was diagnosed 2 years ago.) This essentially means that I struggle to develop an effective theory of mind and lack a certain amount of human empathy. One strategy that has really helped me is to try to understand, to make myself understand, that people are just like me, with thoughts and feelings all the time. I know that this sounds silly and childish, but it works. Actually, the biggest help was "social stories" (and an understanding girlfriend who just happened to write her thesis on Asperger's.) One of the best things that you can do for anyone who is really that socially maladapted is to suggest that he get tested for Asperger's. With the correct diagnosis, assuming that there is a medical reason for his social difficulties, new strategies will open up to him and there will be more resources to seek out.
LucasArts seems to only see to the end of the fiscal year. They want to go with the games they know will be profitable, and by that I mean the Star Wars game du jour. As far back as I can remember, they've been grafting Star Wars onto whatever genre is popular: flight sim (X-Wing/TIE Fighter,) FPS (Dark Forces series,) a somewhat original RTS (the abysmal Force Commander) and a more traditional RTS (Galactic Battlegrounds) to name a few. Oh, not to mention the upcoming squad-level tactical shooter (read: Rainbow Six clone) Republic Commando. As adventure games are in a constant near-death state according to the popular gaming press, I'm not surprised that LucasArts decided to cancel Sam & Max 2. That doesn't mean that I'm not disappointed, however. I'll be writing a letter to LucasArts too. Just don't be surprised when the truly innovative and fun games (Sam & Max 2 and Full Throttle 2) get cancelled in favor of the safe bet that is a Star Wars game.
What Lieberman forgot to mention in his anti-GTA diatribe was that the player is rewarded for doing the same things to men in the game. In fact, I can think of many games in which the player attacks men. What I'm trying to say that if we can be violent against white males, we should be able to be violent against black males, white females, Asian males, Indian females, and anyone else who is out there. (Except for Haitians, we can't kill them.) If everyone wants to be equal, they have to accept equality - good and bad. Women's equality should mean that women are just attackable in GTA as men. I'll leave you with a quote from PJ O'Rourke: How much fame, money, and power does a woman have to achieve on her own before you can punch her in the face?
Seriously, I'm sick of this trend. The trailer for the original Alien is still the best one I've ever seen; rather then show you the plot or good glimpses of the monster, all you got were quick shots that let you know that Alien was going to scare the hell out of you. Now we have trailers like the one for the Matrix Reloaded (they showed the best parts of the Hundred-Agent Fight) and this monstrosity for Spiderman 2. I think it would have been much cooler if we had seen Doc Oc's mechanical tentacles walking up... and nothing more. Leave well enough alone; let us know we're getting something cool, but don't show the best parts. Leave some surprises for the actual movie.
Has anyone noticed that Cloud and Sephiroth look alike? It's hard to tell from the small picture of Sephiroth but if Square makes them look alike, they may appeal enough to my fanboy-ness to make me forget The Spirits Within.
Finally, we'll be able to get detailed, close-up pictures of the face on Mars! I'm sure the Weekly World News is scrambling to scoop everyone else in this potentially groundbreaking revelation. I hope that they're able to prove conclusively that, just as theorized by the eminent astronomers behind the classic Mission to Mars, the Earth was indeed seeded by Martians after a cataclysmic meteor strike.
In this episode of the Animatrix, humanity tries to A-bomb the machines into submission. Since we already know that the machines can be disabled with an electromagnetic pulse, why didn't humanity just detonate an A-bomb in the upper atmosphere, a la Goldeneye (an effect based in science, I assure you), and thusly disable the machines without having to resort to blocking out the sun? After all, that would be just as harmful to humanity as it would be to machines.
Yes, there was an Israeli onboard. His name was Ilan Ramon, an Israeli Air Force colonel. He was the first Israeli in space. While it may seem that this made the shuttle a terrorist target, I personally have trouble believing that any terrorist cell is capable of that.