" great, now we're gonna have every geek/nerd/whatever (i forgot the difference) signing up for the us military. the gamers corps"
If You've ever seen the movie Toys....this might not be such a bad thing. In the movie, gamers are tricked into thinking a remote control vehicle simulation they are playing is an arcade game, when in fact it controls vehicles in a 3rd world country fighting a real war. Personally....while they would need special training....I'd put the twitch reflexes of any decent CS player against those of your average soldier any day.
"And why is it that investors still haven't caught on that specialty video game controllers without mainstream game support-lightgun games, ddr, steering wheels-don't make money?"
Because the weightloss industry is a billion dollar industry. And anything that offers the chance to lose weight while sitting on your fat ass playing video games has a good chance of selling in America. Remember, the vast majority of people aren't as intelligent about these things as your average slashdotter.
" It's not all technobabble. They're trying to avoid using the word "commodity."
Because thats exactly what they want it to become. Personally, I don't really want to have a "computing cycle" bill every month along with my other utilities. I want to be able to make my PC do that kind of stuff, I mean, isn't that why I bought it?
Here's a little comparison that helps show why this is a BAD idea. Think about how the record labels would like you to pay every time you listened to a song. That is their wet dream. Well, this is kind of like that, but for computing. You pay them whenever you want to use computing power. No thanks.
"The amazing thing is that online socializing does not mess with my introversion. "
Which is why it is important to emphasize the difference in the two types of socializing. Now to dwell on your introversion, but when you are online, you are missing out on most of the risks of being social IRL. So while its great that you've found a way to be social in some way, it is important to realize that it doesn't fix the problem of you being uncomfortable with lots of people around, which is what really needs to be addressed.
But I agree, the definition of 'social' is one that will continue to evolve as the Information Age continues.
The other things you have listed are FAR more important for a photo student than a piece of software, and they need to eat. Notice that I didn't say photo student in my original post because its design majors and many others who use Photoshop. Besides, you are not in a position to judge what breaks the bank for other people. There are priorities and the masses have spoken as to what they are.
"When a car hits it the four bolts snap and the pole falls over, typically breaking just the bolts and the light and causing minimal damage to the vehicle. To repair it they simply replace the light and the four bolts."
" Logo is nice if you have a more powerful robotic base; Mindstorms deconstructs robotics to a lower level."
Man....I'd never program my Mindstorms bots in Logo. Jesus, if that robot moved at even HALF the speed I had that stupid little turtle zipping around at in highschool.....well, it would be a very expensive experiment.
" Where did they "hint that they are killing Mindstorm?" Oh, they didn't--only Slashdot did? I see."
Ah, perhaps you should find out what a PR firm does sometime. It may not be the most ethical thing in the world, but people use PR plants all the time to stir interest. And Slashdot is a great site to target if you're going for the general demographic that congregates here.
are a close approximation of an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters, not only will you eventualy get Shakespere but some cool research papers as well:-)"
Just out of curiosity, with todays computing power, can/has that sort of thing be done? Is there a program I can run on my computer to randomize text in a manner that would go through all possible combinations of letter/length combinations?
" In the World War Adolf Hitler was smart enough to take an established symbol like the Indian swastika and mirrored it and made it a symbol for the Nazis to be proud of. He did the same to the Napolean Iron Cross. "
So this sounds very interesting, but IANAP (I am not a physicist). So as a non-scientific person, what sorts of cool inventions could we see out of this?
How could it improve current technology?
Are there any bad things that could happen as a result of its use?
"DJ Phase writes "Warp Records, an independent label for electronic music (featuring artists such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, and Boards of Canada), has made their entire back catalog available thru Bleep, a new digital download service. Individual tracks are $1.35 for those of us in the USA, with EPs and full albums in the $4 to $10 price range. You can download Aphex Twin's rare, groundbreaking Hangable Auto Bulb EP for $4.29. To quote from the FAQ: 'We are at present the only store to offer very high quality MP3 files,' and 'Bleep music has no DRM or copy protection built in. We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals'."
Well, here's another label trying to SCREW US OVER! You see, they're trying to kill off music download services so they can hike up CD sales.
"has made their entire back catalog available thru Bleep, a new digital download service."
Oh....ok...well......they're still gonna gouge us on prices!
"with EPs and full albums in the $4 to $10 price range. You can download Aphex Twin's rare, groundbreaking Hangable Auto Bulb EP for $4.29."
Oh...well, aside from sounding a bit too obviously like a press release, um......ok. But, but they'll be DRMed to all hell!
"Bleep music has no DRM or copy protection built in. We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals'"
Well, crap. The preachers of Kazaa and its ilk have been saying these things need to be done before they'll switch. Now lets see if they actually do.
In all seriousness though, it'll be interesting to see if this business model can be successful. And they're a label built on electronic music, which is pretty much the first in this kind of market, genre wise. Definitely interesting to see how the first genre-themed music store will do.
Well, with MMORPGs, I'll be honest, when I betatest, I don't do it for them, I do it for me. Why? Well, frankly I am sick of all the MMORPGs that get released that could still be considered Betas. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $60 for the box, and then $12/month to see if a game is worth playing. Yeah they offer 1st month free, but its a big hastle.
Sometimes, if the beta was a good experience, I will purchase the game, as was the case with EQ and DAoC.
Betas have become not something necessarily about testing, but rather giving a preview to all of the fans who have been eagerly watching the game progress from its conception.
If a game company wants to capitalize on it, treat it as a promotional event. I'm in marketing/advertising, and from my PoV, thats exactly what these things are. For example, some games have given everybody tons of cash, lots of XP and skill points on the last day and let them go nuts. This is the kind of thing that can hook you customers. You see, if they get a taste for the high level stuff on the last day, they might be more willing to shell out the $60 for the box, and all the monthly fees necessary to get to the high level again.
"Only people who are able to be online more then
>/.ers are probally pr0n addicts."
In all seriousness, does anybody else feel they've become addicted to porn because of the net? I definitely do, and because i'm on a high speed network, I tend to browse through the TGPs very quickly....and I've in fact found I get very tired of the same girls very quickly, and am always in need of a fresh new face.
I've started to wonder if this affects my social life, because I start getting bored with a girl right after I start to get to know her. This isn't meant as a funny comment...and I would rather have your comments than your mod points especially if you have any resources for me to look into about this issue.
"I'd suggest looking at Adobe's student pricing, if you're serious about learning."
And I'd suggest you take a good look at how Adobe maintains its marketshare today. They offer student pricing, but guess what, many students still don't have the money for it. Yet millions of college students always seem to have the latest photoshop. And when they go work for a company, that company is going to have to buy a copy of Photoshop for them if they're doing graphics work.
Adobe is shooting itself in the foot here. They make the VAST majority of their money through corporations. So far, they've done very well by hooking the college students and such by letting them use the pirated version and not really doing anything about it. Then these people go on to use fully paid versions once they're at a company. Adobe is just getting greedy and if they ever do find a way to SERIOUSLY clamp down on piracy of Photoshop, they're just might start to see a decline in market share.
"What, and World War II was only between 64 soldiers? ahhh...woeful ignorance...
and what is your point anyway, the battle of Hoth and Endor were between 64-128 soldiers, not a measly 32?"
Where exactly did I state that WWII was between 64 soldiers? Oh wait, I didn't. My point is that while the battles we are discussing did not consist of 32, nor 64-128, 64-128 comes a helluva lot closer than 32, in fact it comes x2 and x3 as close. I'm not saying that 64-128 is the correct number, I'm saying its closer than 32, and as such allows a better realization of the battle than one with 32.
I would really love cybernetic implants, especially ones that allow me to interface directly with a computer. However, what happens when it becomes obsolete, or I want to upgrade?
I have a feeling this isn't as easy as swapping out the old graphics card for a new one. Will I even be ABLE to upgrade? Will I be stuck with a bunch of legacy ports on my head? Will it damage my brain to upgrade?
Now, granted I didn't RTFA (surprise surprise) but I know that when MP3.com was still up and running, they had a service where members could be compensated directly by people buying their music. Will the artists be compensated in any way whatsoever for this? Or is this just another example of a label screwing the artists over?
While your point is valid about certain maps being geared toward certain numbers of players, you have to realize in the Star Wars galaxy, a lot of the battles are fairly large. The Battle of Hoth wasn't held between 32 soldiers, nor was Endor.
And lets not pretend this game is going to be something radically different. It is essentially BF1942 with the SW license slapped onto it, which is Lucas trying to cash in on it. I don't mind that so much....if they can make it look better than the current BF1942 SW mod, I'd buy it.
The Planetside issue bugs me because it takes a lot of the skill out. Yes there is bullet spread in the realistic games, but you have an idea of how it works, and you can react accordingly. Plus, if you ARE a good shot, you CAN get head shots, and it makes all the difference in gameplay. Got news for ya, the trend in FPS is for MORE hittable locations, not fewer. Pretty soon we're gonna start seeing games where if you shoot a guy in the hand he's gonna drop his weapon. Planetside is a few steps backwards in that regard.
You are totally correct about the balance issue though. The issues I've addressed covers things that would affect both sides equally. Game balance is totally different.
How about hiring a better employee? I understand it might be costly as you are starting up, but I think the additional cost would MORE than outweigh that of the bad worker. Have you spoken to this employee at all? What measures aside from pay cuts have you used to address the issue?
"I think the central problem in this one example is that nobody wants to hand 10 bucks to a holding company to buy burgers on 49-cent Wednesday."
I think there's another problem, that affects two target markets for McDonalds. First, the vast majority of their revenue comes from lower class people. These people are not going to want to go out and buy a watch to speed up their purchase. Nor would they typically have the technological savvy to really care about this.(Sorry if it sounds stereotypical, but its true)
Second, the wealtheir customers who buy food at McDonalds (during their lunch break or something) probably wouldn't want to wear a Timex watch just because it has that nifty feature.
Most middle class (and definitely most upper-middle class) have nicer watches. They don't want to wear a cheaper one just because they can wave their wrist to ring something up.
Its funny, with the pace at with Bayesian filters are developing, I think it would be ironic if one day their language detection abilities were used to aid translators pick up weird dialects of foreign languages and such by figuring out similar words or something.
Slashdot Mirror
If You've ever seen the movie Toys....this might not be such a bad thing. In the movie, gamers are tricked into thinking a remote control vehicle simulation they are playing is an arcade game, when in fact it controls vehicles in a 3rd world country fighting a real war. Personally....while they would need special training....I'd put the twitch reflexes of any decent CS player against those of your average soldier any day.
Because the weightloss industry is a billion dollar industry. And anything that offers the chance to lose weight while sitting on your fat ass playing video games has a good chance of selling in America. Remember, the vast majority of people aren't as intelligent about these things as your average slashdotter.
Because thats exactly what they want it to become. Personally, I don't really want to have a "computing cycle" bill every month along with my other utilities. I want to be able to make my PC do that kind of stuff, I mean, isn't that why I bought it?
Here's a little comparison that helps show why this is a BAD idea. Think about how the record labels would like you to pay every time you listened to a song. That is their wet dream. Well, this is kind of like that, but for computing. You pay them whenever you want to use computing power. No thanks.
Which is why it is important to emphasize the difference in the two types of socializing. Now to dwell on your introversion, but when you are online, you are missing out on most of the risks of being social IRL. So while its great that you've found a way to be social in some way, it is important to realize that it doesn't fix the problem of you being uncomfortable with lots of people around, which is what really needs to be addressed.
But I agree, the definition of 'social' is one that will continue to evolve as the Information Age continues.
So thats how those light posts in GTA3 work!
Man....I'd never program my Mindstorms bots in Logo. Jesus, if that robot moved at even HALF the speed I had that stupid little turtle zipping around at in highschool.....well, it would be a very expensive experiment.
Ah, perhaps you should find out what a PR firm does sometime. It may not be the most ethical thing in the world, but people use PR plants all the time to stir interest. And Slashdot is a great site to target if you're going for the general demographic that congregates here.
Just out of curiosity, with todays computing power, can/has that sort of thing be done? Is there a program I can run on my computer to randomize text in a manner that would go through all possible combinations of letter/length combinations?
Ah, Godwin strikes again.
How could it improve current technology?
Are there any bad things that could happen as a result of its use?
Well, here's another label trying to SCREW US OVER! You see, they're trying to kill off music download services so they can hike up CD sales.
"has made their entire back catalog available thru Bleep, a new digital download service."
Oh....ok...well......they're still gonna gouge us on prices!
"with EPs and full albums in the $4 to $10 price range. You can download Aphex Twin's rare, groundbreaking Hangable Auto Bulb EP for $4.29."
Oh...well, aside from sounding a bit too obviously like a press release, um......ok. But, but they'll be DRMed to all hell!
"Bleep music has no DRM or copy protection built in. We believe that most people like to be treated as customers and not potential criminals'"
Well, crap. The preachers of Kazaa and its ilk have been saying these things need to be done before they'll switch. Now lets see if they actually do.
In all seriousness though, it'll be interesting to see if this business model can be successful. And they're a label built on electronic music, which is pretty much the first in this kind of market, genre wise. Definitely interesting to see how the first genre-themed music store will do.
Sometimes, if the beta was a good experience, I will purchase the game, as was the case with EQ and DAoC.
Betas have become not something necessarily about testing, but rather giving a preview to all of the fans who have been eagerly watching the game progress from its conception.
If a game company wants to capitalize on it, treat it as a promotional event. I'm in marketing/advertising, and from my PoV, thats exactly what these things are. For example, some games have given everybody tons of cash, lots of XP and skill points on the last day and let them go nuts. This is the kind of thing that can hook you customers. You see, if they get a taste for the high level stuff on the last day, they might be more willing to shell out the $60 for the box, and all the monthly fees necessary to get to the high level again.
Perhaps the concept of the beta-test has evolved.
In all seriousness, does anybody else feel they've become addicted to porn because of the net? I definitely do, and because i'm on a high speed network, I tend to browse through the TGPs very quickly....and I've in fact found I get very tired of the same girls very quickly, and am always in need of a fresh new face.
I've started to wonder if this affects my social life, because I start getting bored with a girl right after I start to get to know her. This isn't meant as a funny comment...and I would rather have your comments than your mod points especially if you have any resources for me to look into about this issue.
And I'd suggest you take a good look at how Adobe maintains its marketshare today. They offer student pricing, but guess what, many students still don't have the money for it. Yet millions of college students always seem to have the latest photoshop. And when they go work for a company, that company is going to have to buy a copy of Photoshop for them if they're doing graphics work.
Adobe is shooting itself in the foot here. They make the VAST majority of their money through corporations. So far, they've done very well by hooking the college students and such by letting them use the pirated version and not really doing anything about it. Then these people go on to use fully paid versions once they're at a company. Adobe is just getting greedy and if they ever do find a way to SERIOUSLY clamp down on piracy of Photoshop, they're just might start to see a decline in market share.
Where exactly did I state that WWII was between 64 soldiers? Oh wait, I didn't. My point is that while the battles we are discussing did not consist of 32, nor 64-128, 64-128 comes a helluva lot closer than 32, in fact it comes x2 and x3 as close. I'm not saying that 64-128 is the correct number, I'm saying its closer than 32, and as such allows a better realization of the battle than one with 32.
I have a feeling this isn't as easy as swapping out the old graphics card for a new one. Will I even be ABLE to upgrade? Will I be stuck with a bunch of legacy ports on my head? Will it damage my brain to upgrade?
And lets not pretend this game is going to be something radically different. It is essentially BF1942 with the SW license slapped onto it, which is Lucas trying to cash in on it. I don't mind that so much....if they can make it look better than the current BF1942 SW mod, I'd buy it.
The Planetside issue bugs me because it takes a lot of the skill out. Yes there is bullet spread in the realistic games, but you have an idea of how it works, and you can react accordingly. Plus, if you ARE a good shot, you CAN get head shots, and it makes all the difference in gameplay. Got news for ya, the trend in FPS is for MORE hittable locations, not fewer. Pretty soon we're gonna start seeing games where if you shoot a guy in the hand he's gonna drop his weapon. Planetside is a few steps backwards in that regard.
You are totally correct about the balance issue though. The issues I've addressed covers things that would affect both sides equally. Game balance is totally different.
I think there's another problem, that affects two target markets for McDonalds. First, the vast majority of their revenue comes from lower class people. These people are not going to want to go out and buy a watch to speed up their purchase. Nor would they typically have the technological savvy to really care about this.(Sorry if it sounds stereotypical, but its true)
Second, the wealtheir customers who buy food at McDonalds (during their lunch break or something) probably wouldn't want to wear a Timex watch just because it has that nifty feature.
Most middle class (and definitely most upper-middle class) have nicer watches. They don't want to wear a cheaper one just because they can wave their wrist to ring something up.