If you think all MUD combat is simply typing "kill orc" 15 times, then I HIGHLY recommend you try out Dragonrealms by Simutronics, one of the few MUD gaming companies who not only has several WILDLY successful and very long running games (think before AOL), but in Dragonrealms, they've removed numbers from just about every aspect of gameplay they could.
Combat consists of you performing various attacking actions such as "parry, jab, riposte, lunge, etc." which can have many different affects on the monster. Wounds are not hitpoints, but rather a full body damage system where you can even have nerve damage and internal bleeding (all healable by empaths of course).
You need to look at some of the best examples in any category before you go ahead and make a summary judgement about said category.
I'm sorry, but why is everybody so impressed with the robosapien? They've had voice controlled toy robots for years.
And before anybody says its not a toy because of how complex its walking system is....well, give it normal sized feet so that its not impossible for it to fall over and then I'll consider it little more than an expensive toy with a good PR team behind it.
"but a text-to-speech eBook phone could be the next big thing"
You know...I hate to burst your bubble, but there's this thing called "audio books" where you can listen to recordings of people reading your books. There's also a website called Audible.com that lets you download these for your iPod.
As someone who always assumes the price you pay is the price WITHOUT the rebate, what I'd really wish BB would get rid of is their ridiculously aggressive pushing of their PSPs (Performance Service Plans, not Playstations). I've heard real horror stories about what employees who sell low numbers of PSPs get threatened.
The sad thing is, today I think Fark handled the whole joke news thing a LOT better. I find something funny about Slashdot needing to take cues on integrity from Fark.
You see, not only have Farks homepage antics today been funny, or mildy amusing, you can click right through to go back to the REAL fark where REAL news is still submitted. That way you get to give people at your site a laugh, and then they get to continue what it is they wanted to do at your site. Way to go Slashdot editors, you just killed/.'s sole function for some lame jokes, and I hope your ad revenue for today suffers accordingly.
Unfortunately, since the editors never have really cared what their readership things, we will continue getting these extremely predictable, extremely obvious April Fools stories. The best we can do is not read them and not post to them since doing so will hurt the ad revenue generated by them (hopefully, if ever so insignificantly).
The sad thing is, this would actually be a really cool idea for a sculpture for your house that you could constantly change. Sure it wouldn't be cheap, but it would still be cool.
And why is it that they only announce their connection with TG on April Fools, and not on any of the other occasions when they post a TG Slashvertisement?
You know, I wish people would come up with some games that actually made space FUN! Why do we always have to be conquering some system, or fighting off an invasion or trying to spread mankind across the universe.
Why can't we just mess around in space! We're quick getting to the day when the average Joe will have the chance to experience space flight. We have companies looking to build space hotels.
What are inhabitants of these hotels going to do while they're there? They're sure as hell not all going to want to do scientific research. How about moon-rover racing? Low Gravity Sky Diving? Moon Crater Exploring?
What I'm waiting for is a really cool MMORPG that lets people inhabit the moon and learn what life is all about up there will be for the average person, with a great physics engine to let you really get a feel for it.
I have to say, I'm not normally one to make a sexist comment, but was anybody else here just the LEAST bit surprised that this was done by a female? I know I sure was. I mean, kudos to her, but I certainly wasn't expecting a girl to ever do this.
Not just that they are so-so ideas, but that everybody is trying to have the next killer-app. So instead of just striving to make a great product, they think that they have to be completely revolutionary and groundbreaking. Now, there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. However, more often than not, what we see is companies CLAIMING to be that, but actually not being anywhere close. THAT is why people lose interest.
"Is this the birth of a new trend or is this simply geeks doing what they always do... spreading the word about something new and different going on in their world?"
Children under 18 are not allowed to purchase this game.
People over 18 are considered adults for all practical purposes, and should not be told what games they can and cannot play. As a 21 year old, I LOVE the violence in these games as I realize that they are pure fantasy. If I am willing to spend money to purchase this game, Rockstar should be permitted to make it if there's a market.
If children area buying the game when they are underage, then THAT is the problem that needs to be addressed, not whether people should make games like this. Because there is a whole market who is able to handle this "realism" and as part of that market, I don't want to have something I find fun taken away because some moralistic bitch wants to impose her morals on my life.
So you think girl gamers love talking about guns and violence and killing as much as guy gamers do?
Its nice to think everything could be equal, but the fact of the matter is, the vast majority of girls don't like some of those topics NEARLY as much as guys do.
I personally can't wait till the gender demographics of video games starts evening out, especially in multiplayer games.
I wonder if all the hopeless geeks out there might actually start learning how to talk to a girl if suddenly the girl is going head to head with them on equal footing.
I've been in quite a few teams in City of Heroes where the majority of members were female, and not only was the conversation a nice change of pace, but the teamwork was fantastic.
And as a side note, one of my requirements for any future girlfriends is that they need to be able to kick my ass in at least ONE video game.
Actually this aspect of marketing is called PR, and yes, its goal IS to create buzz.
But for those of us who haven't heard anything about this new version of photoshop coming out, its a nice look at some of the new upcoming features.
Remember, as cool as you may think it is to bash advertising and PR, one of its main purposes (aside from getting you to give them your money) is to INFORM YOU ABOUT THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE.
Well, if you want to dig deep here, technically by posting about it on Slashdot we ARE doing something about it.
You see, Slashdot has a ridiculously high readership for a site of this nature, and as such gets VERY highly ranked on Google, and gets plenty of other press as well. So technically speaking, posting on Slashdot is better than doing nothing. Least you're helping other people find the posts on here and hopefully they'll get off their asses and do something.
I really hope this doesn't all get shut down prematurely after the first person dies. I mean, I don't mean to be a Negative Nancy, but when this is first getting off the ground (no pun intended), there WILL be deaths, and they most likely will be very gruesome (think explosion, suffocation, or decompression).
This is one time though that I hope the lawyers DO get heavily involved just so that one lawsuit doesn't bring this whole fledgling industry down in one fell swoop.
The reason the thin rubber sheet would be useless is because the whole purpose of this is to project a keyboard where there is none, without needing additional things.
If you're carrying around a thin rubber sheet, you might as well use one of those thin rubber rollable keyboards.
"are people writing 20 page business reports and stuff on them"
No, but they are browsing the web more and more on them, and if cellphones keep shrinking to the size of an earring or something, we're going to need SOMEWAY to input to them.
Slashdot Mirror
Combat consists of you performing various attacking actions such as "parry, jab, riposte, lunge, etc." which can have many different affects on the monster. Wounds are not hitpoints, but rather a full body damage system where you can even have nerve damage and internal bleeding (all healable by empaths of course).
You need to look at some of the best examples in any category before you go ahead and make a summary judgement about said category.
And before anybody says its not a toy because of how complex its walking system is....well, give it normal sized feet so that its not impossible for it to fall over and then I'll consider it little more than an expensive toy with a good PR team behind it.
You know...I hate to burst your bubble, but there's this thing called "audio books" where you can listen to recordings of people reading your books. There's also a website called Audible.com that lets you download these for your iPod.
"Hey, check out my new Prius, its got the mad hookup and gets over 100mpg boy!"
You see, not only have Farks homepage antics today been funny, or mildy amusing, you can click right through to go back to the REAL fark where REAL news is still submitted. That way you get to give people at your site a laugh, and then they get to continue what it is they wanted to do at your site. Way to go Slashdot editors, you just killed /.'s sole function for some lame jokes, and I hope your ad revenue for today suffers accordingly.
And why is it that they only announce their connection with TG on April Fools, and not on any of the other occasions when they post a TG Slashvertisement?
How would that make you any more neurotic than moving a mouse, or using a biofeedback device?
If you ask me, people in todays society are more equipped than ever before to handle this sort of thing mentally.
Why can't we just mess around in space! We're quick getting to the day when the average Joe will have the chance to experience space flight. We have companies looking to build space hotels.
What are inhabitants of these hotels going to do while they're there? They're sure as hell not all going to want to do scientific research. How about moon-rover racing? Low Gravity Sky Diving? Moon Crater Exploring?
What I'm waiting for is a really cool MMORPG that lets people inhabit the moon and learn what life is all about up there will be for the average person, with a great physics engine to let you really get a feel for it.
The latter. Next!
People over 18 are considered adults for all practical purposes, and should not be told what games they can and cannot play. As a 21 year old, I LOVE the violence in these games as I realize that they are pure fantasy. If I am willing to spend money to purchase this game, Rockstar should be permitted to make it if there's a market.
If children area buying the game when they are underage, then THAT is the problem that needs to be addressed, not whether people should make games like this. Because there is a whole market who is able to handle this "realism" and as part of that market, I don't want to have something I find fun taken away because some moralistic bitch wants to impose her morals on my life.
Its nice to think everything could be equal, but the fact of the matter is, the vast majority of girls don't like some of those topics NEARLY as much as guys do.
I wonder if all the hopeless geeks out there might actually start learning how to talk to a girl if suddenly the girl is going head to head with them on equal footing.
I've been in quite a few teams in City of Heroes where the majority of members were female, and not only was the conversation a nice change of pace, but the teamwork was fantastic.
And as a side note, one of my requirements for any future girlfriends is that they need to be able to kick my ass in at least ONE video game.
But for those of us who haven't heard anything about this new version of photoshop coming out, its a nice look at some of the new upcoming features.
Remember, as cool as you may think it is to bash advertising and PR, one of its main purposes (aside from getting you to give them your money) is to INFORM YOU ABOUT THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE.
You see, Slashdot has a ridiculously high readership for a site of this nature, and as such gets VERY highly ranked on Google, and gets plenty of other press as well. So technically speaking, posting on Slashdot is better than doing nothing. Least you're helping other people find the posts on here and hopefully they'll get off their asses and do something.
This is one time though that I hope the lawyers DO get heavily involved just so that one lawsuit doesn't bring this whole fledgling industry down in one fell swoop.
If you're carrying around a thin rubber sheet, you might as well use one of those thin rubber rollable keyboards.
No, but they are browsing the web more and more on them, and if cellphones keep shrinking to the size of an earring or something, we're going to need SOMEWAY to input to them.