But two I truly do miss. Full motion video: Sierra produced a 9 CD adventure game called Phantasmagoria that was just amazing. It featured live actors against rendered back drops. The range of emotion and expression achieved was far superior to any full CGI you get now. Sorry for all you CGI Spirits Within fans;), but all of the CGI used in theater and games just has a flat look to it.
I agree. I really enjoyed the games that had movie-like cutscenes. I know I'm in the minority on this one since most people say that the movie-like budgets cut down on the gameplay experience. But games like Wing Commander 3 and 4, Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, and 7th Guest were all great games that used actors, sets, etc. I think the reason why a lot of people don't like them is that they are fairly linear since you can only shot so many different endings with actual actors. But like a good movie, I got caught up with the plot and that drove me to advance in the game just to see how it would end. Now that we have DVD drives on all our computers (I'm generalizing), I say it's time to bring back the actors, hire some script writers, and make some great interactive-movie games.
but as soon as they start to lose, they either kick you, or if they cant, they quit.
This is my largest pet peeve when I play NHL 2K3 using Live. I once had a night were someone quit 2 seconds before the game was about to end just because I was winning. And I swear people unplug their ethernet cables so the game goes into a "dropped" category instead of it being an official loss. I hate the pettiness of the players online that I never came across playing online on the PC. Sure there are taunts and flames going back and forth, but I think people had a better concept of it "BEING JUST A GAME!"
My second pet peeve in online gaming are those who will change the game settings during the game. To use NHL 2K3 as an example again... I create a game that has offsides, icing, and a game speed of 5. Then the first thing the punk I play against does is change the game speed to 10, and turn off the offsides rule. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SETTINGS, DON'T JOIN THE GAME!
Sorry, I had to get those two things off my chest since my XBOX Live experiences have been rapidly going downhill.
My dad is a really huge audiophile. He has a very large analog system, but he is slowly adding more digital pieces to the configuration. He is wondering if there are computers (or a list of components) that are geared toward audio junkies? At first glance, I just thought "stick in a CD-RW drive and latest Creative soundcard on the market", but I don't know much about the particular needs of the audio crowd. For those who are in the know, what are the computers/components that best suit this niche?
Re:Tech support for your family??
on
Family Tech Support
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· Score: 2, Interesting
This is one reason I stay away from building custom PC's for relatives. If the PC breaks down, they expect me to fix it ASAP.
I've moved my family from my custom-build creations to good old machines from Dell, Gateway, and IBM. The problem... even if I didn't build the computer they still expect me to fix it and I still get blamed for everything (as if all tech people know each other and it is some large conspiracy). Afterall, it is so much easier for my mom to call me with her computer problems then to call or email Dell tech support. You see, my mom can't give the Dell support rep a guilt-trip in the same manner she can give me one.
I am one of six children and for some reason, the only one who knows anything about computers. So, I have to play tech support for all my brothers and sisters, my parents, and my parents' office computers. I've been doing this since I was 13 years old. And let me tell you, it is not fun. I have to be an expert in everything from Intel 486 hardware-based computers to modern laptops. They expect me to know every little detail of operating systems ranging from DOS to Windows XP. How many of you have gotten this phone call late at night: "Hi. I got this error message on my computer that said something about a fatal error and now the toaster doesn't work... do you know how to fix that?". When I come home for the holidays, I have a task sheet a mile long of computer issues I need to look at.
For some reason it escapes my family that I don't know the solutions to problems right off the top of my head and that I have to search for them online... something that they can do rather easily. Despite my repeated calls of "just go to google and type in [search phrase]", they still can't do any troubleshooting themselves. So, here's a tip for all you teenagers who want to play the hero and fix your family's computers. Don't! They will attach themselves to you like leaches well into your 20's and 30's.
It's who you know. I can't stress enough the importance of job fairs. Sure, most of the time you'll get the people who just take your resume and file it away, never to see the light of day again. However, I think you stand a much better chance of landing an internship when you meet with recruiters face-to-face as opposed to just being reduced to a GPA on a resume.
Also, if you go to a school that has engineering societies... join them! I got internships and a job right out of college through my connections with an engineering society (SHPE if anyone is curious). I was a corporate liaison and often company reps would ask me for the resumes of the society members in a certain major. If you're one of those resumes, then you'll be 1 of 20 as opposed to 1 of 1000+ applicants which gives you much better odds of being noticed.
I know you might feel dirty doing the whole networking, business card, laughing at all the stupid jokes scene, but it's how you get a spot at the corporate poker table. Skill may get you the job, but connections get you the interview.
I went to college in the Bay Area. My freshman year was the same time that the.com boom was in full gear. My friends and I always joked about how easy it was going to be to get a job and that we would have to beat off the recruiters with a stick come our senior year. Well, my senior year came and went and no one was knocking on my door. A BS in Computer Science really doesn't mean a whole lot when you are competing with people with masters degrees and industry experience for the same jobs. All I wanted to do is stay in the Bay Area after college, but alas, I've been banished to Boise, ID taking the first job offer based on the fear that a second one would not be coming.
What I would like to know is if internal network usage counts toward the 2 GB quota? If you share your files via Network Neighborhood, AppleTalk, etc. then that usage is completely contained within the university. To my understanding, most of the costs come when the university pays for bits being sent and received to the "outside" world since they have contracts with ISP's to handle that traffic.
My freshman year of college (when mp3's were popular, but before Napster), I could get tons of files just browsing Network Neighborhood. And the university did not have to pay an ISP for that usage since it was all internal.
That would be pretty lame if the university charges for internal usage since I had a great time playing networked games with others in my dorm when I was an undergrad.
I'm not talking about Matthew Broderick's character. I'm talking about the two guys stuffed in some back room of a company that he comes and talks to and gets some advice on how to hack into the computer system ("Back doors are not secrets!"). Think about it... here are two, relatively intelligent people who aren't exactly living the high life and they don't use fancy 3D displays that show a high-res. topological map of the network. Their solution to getting passed the network logon isn't to effortless write some sort of magical program that cracks security. Rather, they tell Matthew's character to do as much research as he can on they guy who developed the system and see if he can figure out what password Dr. Falkin would have used... a more realistic solution to the problem.
Anyway, back to my point. These guys aren't cool, they aren't organized, and their jobs appear rather mundane. Of course, any movie based on real programming would be like remaking "Titanic" from the point of view of the iceberg.
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I agree. I really enjoyed the games that had movie-like cutscenes. I know I'm in the minority on this one since most people say that the movie-like budgets cut down on the gameplay experience. But games like Wing Commander 3 and 4, Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, and 7th Guest were all great games that used actors, sets, etc. I think the reason why a lot of people don't like them is that they are fairly linear since you can only shot so many different endings with actual actors. But like a good movie, I got caught up with the plot and that drove me to advance in the game just to see how it would end. Now that we have DVD drives on all our computers (I'm generalizing), I say it's time to bring back the actors, hire some script writers, and make some great interactive-movie games.
This is my largest pet peeve when I play NHL 2K3 using Live. I once had a night were someone quit 2 seconds before the game was about to end just because I was winning. And I swear people unplug their ethernet cables so the game goes into a "dropped" category instead of it being an official loss. I hate the pettiness of the players online that I never came across playing online on the PC. Sure there are taunts and flames going back and forth, but I think people had a better concept of it "BEING JUST A GAME!"
My second pet peeve in online gaming are those who will change the game settings during the game. To use NHL 2K3 as an example again... I create a game that has offsides, icing, and a game speed of 5. Then the first thing the punk I play against does is change the game speed to 10, and turn off the offsides rule. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SETTINGS, DON'T JOIN THE GAME!
Sorry, I had to get those two things off my chest since my XBOX Live experiences have been rapidly going downhill.
My dad is a really huge audiophile. He has a very large analog system, but he is slowly adding more digital pieces to the configuration. He is wondering if there are computers (or a list of components) that are geared toward audio junkies? At first glance, I just thought "stick in a CD-RW drive and latest Creative soundcard on the market", but I don't know much about the particular needs of the audio crowd. For those who are in the know, what are the computers/components that best suit this niche?
I've moved my family from my custom-build creations to good old machines from Dell, Gateway, and IBM. The problem... even if I didn't build the computer they still expect me to fix it and I still get blamed for everything (as if all tech people know each other and it is some large conspiracy). Afterall, it is so much easier for my mom to call me with her computer problems then to call or email Dell tech support. You see, my mom can't give the Dell support rep a guilt-trip in the same manner she can give me one.
For some reason it escapes my family that I don't know the solutions to problems right off the top of my head and that I have to search for them online... something that they can do rather easily. Despite my repeated calls of "just go to google and type in [search phrase]", they still can't do any troubleshooting themselves. So, here's a tip for all you teenagers who want to play the hero and fix your family's computers. Don't! They will attach themselves to you like leaches well into your 20's and 30's.
It's who you know. I can't stress enough the importance of job fairs. Sure, most of the time you'll get the people who just take your resume and file it away, never to see the light of day again. However, I think you stand a much better chance of landing an internship when you meet with recruiters face-to-face as opposed to just being reduced to a GPA on a resume. Also, if you go to a school that has engineering societies... join them! I got internships and a job right out of college through my connections with an engineering society (SHPE if anyone is curious). I was a corporate liaison and often company reps would ask me for the resumes of the society members in a certain major. If you're one of those resumes, then you'll be 1 of 20 as opposed to 1 of 1000+ applicants which gives you much better odds of being noticed. I know you might feel dirty doing the whole networking, business card, laughing at all the stupid jokes scene, but it's how you get a spot at the corporate poker table. Skill may get you the job, but connections get you the interview.
I went to college in the Bay Area. My freshman year was the same time that the .com boom was in full gear. My friends and I always joked about how easy it was going to be to get a job and that we would have to beat off the recruiters with a stick come our senior year. Well, my senior year came and went and no one was knocking on my door. A BS in Computer Science really doesn't mean a whole lot when you are competing with people with masters degrees and industry experience for the same jobs. All I wanted to do is stay in the Bay Area after college, but alas, I've been banished to Boise, ID taking the first job offer based on the fear that a second one would not be coming.
What I would like to know is if internal network usage counts toward the 2 GB quota? If you share your files via Network Neighborhood, AppleTalk, etc. then that usage is completely contained within the university. To my understanding, most of the costs come when the university pays for bits being sent and received to the "outside" world since they have contracts with ISP's to handle that traffic. My freshman year of college (when mp3's were popular, but before Napster), I could get tons of files just browsing Network Neighborhood. And the university did not have to pay an ISP for that usage since it was all internal. That would be pretty lame if the university charges for internal usage since I had a great time playing networked games with others in my dorm when I was an undergrad.
I'm not talking about Matthew Broderick's character. I'm talking about the two guys stuffed in some back room of a company that he comes and talks to and gets some advice on how to hack into the computer system ("Back doors are not secrets!"). Think about it... here are two, relatively intelligent people who aren't exactly living the high life and they don't use fancy 3D displays that show a high-res. topological map of the network. Their solution to getting passed the network logon isn't to effortless write some sort of magical program that cracks security. Rather, they tell Matthew's character to do as much research as he can on they guy who developed the system and see if he can figure out what password Dr. Falkin would have used... a more realistic solution to the problem. Anyway, back to my point. These guys aren't cool, they aren't organized, and their jobs appear rather mundane. Of course, any movie based on real programming would be like remaking "Titanic" from the point of view of the iceberg.