I read all the "Douglas approved" bits as reassurances more than evasions. If he had just said "I'm pretty sure it's great and you'll love it," it would have met with skepticism. This was, to me, intended to reassure the skeptics that they have attempted to stay very close to Adams's ideas, humor, and so on.
Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little
on
We Love Katamari
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· Score: 1
All of those are still funded by the latest Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, or Gran Turismo game. And Katamari Damacy was lucky. It was apparently the result of Namco lending a game designer to a group of students, and lo and behold they came up with a marketable and very good game design.
And as I replied to you earlier, I do like Katamari Damacy. You just can't hold it up and expect it to be proof that Japan has a creative edge over the rest of the world's game developers as so many here seem all to eager to do.
Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little
on
We Love Katamari
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· Score: 1
Bug Smasher Pro's quirkiness is that the interface is a single pressure sensitive rubber beetle. The instructions recommend that you use socks or bare feet, but the arcade versions are tougher and designed for use with shoes. So yeah, that one was a response to the "arcade game where you slap a big blue rubber ass" that rAiNsT0rm posited as a fine example of Japanese innovation.
As for Slippy's grand adventure, I'm at least proud to say I didn't have to try very hard to come up with it; I just wasn't able at the time to come up with some wondrous, charming, and heretofore unimagined play mechanic. Point was, though, that not all "quirky" games are inspired bouts of creative genius coupled with expert game design. A good art director can quirk up the blandest of games.
And man, there was this amazingly quirky game. You traveled around a near featureless landscape until you ended up in pits with a flower. You then had to encourage the flower to grow, and escape the pits. I think it was called "E.T." or something.
Also, I do like Katamari Damacy. It actually is an example of a unique overall design backed up by solid gameplay and technical accomplishment, graphically and otherwise. I read Game Developer's postmortem on it and was impressed at what went into it and what eventually came of the efforts.
I also agree with Ebert's line, which he himself often breaks out in his own defense to explain his ratings.
Summary time: I like Katamari Damacy. It's a good game because of a combination of inspired design and excellent implementation. I get tired of hearing it trotted out everytime someone bemoans the lack of innovation, especially in reference to one geographical region's apparent superiority over another. Every part of the game industry is capable of producing uninspired products and regularly does so. Your line about "Yet Another FPS or Final Fantasy wannabe" fits that well. Every part of the game industry is also capable of producing unique and endearing gameplay and worlds, and reasonably frequently does so. I think that's it. I think the rest was sarcasm attempting to address those points.
Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little
on
We Love Katamari
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Whoa, wait a second, so the secret to a good game is just to be "quirky"? All that gameplay and smooth control and crap are just kludges, and all I really ahve to do is come up with something so far out in left field that no one in their right mind would have imagined it before in video game form? Man, I can't wait to get started on Turd Surfer: Slippy's Adventure through the Water Filtration Plant. Each level ends in you getting past all the sanitation measures. The control scheme has you use only L2, the triangle button, and the right analog stick. The graphics will mostly be neon flashing sprites. Music to be performed by some guy with a gutbucket. It won't sell worth crap, but "true gamers" will latch on to it for years. Heck, I don't even need to do that. If I want to get the Japanophile seal of approval, I just have to mold a pressure sensor in some crazy way. Bug Smasher Pro! Stomp that beetle and see how many points you get! Home version of the controller only $30! Sequels are rhythm-based and set to mindless J-pop.
I did not deny for a second that there are some innovative games from Japan. Nintendo makes great games. I simply stated that there are innovative games that are, apparently through some little-known flaw in the rAiNsTOrm Theory of Gaming Quality, somehow NOT made in Japan. While I know you enjoy your hyperbole, Splinter Cell is only on its third iteration. Each one has added unique new facets that affect the gameplay in positive ways. And out of curiosity, what do you think of the Metroid Prime Gamecube games, developed by Retro Studios, which I assume to be non-Japanese? Wait, hold on, I'll do it for you: "Typically pedestrian hack-job of a beloved and unique franchise. I resolved never to play it when I heard that it's in first-person."
Re:Such Innovation In a Time of Little
on
We Love Katamari
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I'll add Tim Schafer and Sid Meyer to that list.
And I'll add Mahjong(sp?) and terrible dating sims to your Japanese game list. I'm not saying that non-Japanese shovelware is all that much better, but the Japanese game industry is not pristine. We get the cream of the crop over here and miss maybe a couple of the good games every year. Also, Katamari Damacy would have failed over here if it was $40 or $50, and its success would likely have been diminished even at $30.
And I love how these game threads devolve into "Where's the innovation?", "Katamari Damacy! I am gaming elite!", and "Japan!11!!"
The best part is that this entire thread is about a Katamari Damacy SEQUEL, and the only new features mentioned are "more items to roll up."
The Western game industry has been behind some nice stuff, too. Everyone talks about how graphics are superfluous. The Splinter Cell games would not be the experience that they are without advanced lighting techniques. And each iteration has been adding genuinely new features and gameplay and actually getting better. Frequency and Amplitude are by Western developers. It's just not as black-and-white (another amazingly unique game, though you mentioned Molyneux already) as the Japanophiles constantly decree. There are conutless studios that routinely turn out great game experiences with unique additions. Grand Theft Auto. Jak & Daxter 1-3. Sly Cooper. These all add something unique and valuable to the gaming landscape and all are, what? Oh, wow! Not Japanese!
Play games that are good. Don't throw blanket statements over large chunks of the world. Deciding that a game that rewards playing for 80 hours to get the Blade of Obsessive Button Mashing or that features a sticky ball against quirky music and art somehow elevates an entire country's work above that of the rest of the world does not make it so. Oh, and saying "Kawaii", "Baka", "Arigato", "Sumimasen", and "Ittadakimasu" at every opportunity does not make you any better than someone else who hasn't seen all the episodes of Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl subtitled three times on fifth-generation bootleg tapes.
These particular pictures indicate something about the machine's capabilities and functionality, though. There's a 40GB hard drive crammed into the side, there are memory card slots (and another picture I saw last night seems to be of a 64MB card), there are no controller ports with the possible exception of a single legacy XBox 1 port...
Since they're offering a 7200rpm 250GB drive+enclosure+hubs for $250, I'm going to assume the drives are 3.5" desktop type drives. I don't think they mention EIDE or SATA, but I would imagine that, since the USB or Firewire connection will probably be the speed bottleneck, the drives are probably the cheaper parallel type instead of serial.
I do have a TV. I do subscribe to Comcast basic analog cable. I watch Simpsons and Arrested Development on Sundays, the Daily Show on Monday through Thursday, and sometimes X-Play. That's it. I'd probably watch Conan O'Brien if I could stay up that late and still be awake at work, but I can't, so I don't. I used to watch some things on Cartoon Network, but I don't anymore. I don't just grab the remote when I'm bored. I play a game or read a book or whatever, but I don't just turn on the TV and "see what's on." You don't have to completely jettison your TV in order to not be ruled by it, though I'm sure the jettisoning saves money.
I've been trying to think for several minutes if there are any advertising campaigns that have actually affected my purchasing habits, and with the exception of the occasional interesting new sandwich or burrito, I honestly don't think it does. Movie commercials rarely surprise me, as I've generally watched the trailers and read about them weeks or months before on the Internet, and make sure to read several reviews before paying to see a movie. Same with video games. I don't blindly purchase, I read reviews. There are some commercials that make me simply aware of a particular brand to the extent that if I see it, I'll think "Hey, I think I saw a commercial for that," but since that statement has never been followed by a purchase of the product, I'm almost completely certain that it does not affect my spending.
As for radio, I listen to the area public station and CDs, but I think that's because my taste in music tends to be fairly limited and not at all in sync with anytihng currently popular. If I do find myself listening to a commercial station, I'm back to NPR or a CD at the first commercial break.
Anyway, to reiterate, you don't have to completely deny yourself a television to avoid succumbing to its allures.
I've been lucky enough to never experience a stuck throttle, but what did you end up doing? I've always assumed I could shift to Neutral if that happened, but if it's something you've not thought about before, I can definitely see that not immediately springing to mind while it's happening.
And the wipers: was it the motor or a problem with the controller that made them stop? My family has been using GM trucks for a while, and we've had to replace a few failed/failing wiper motors, though I think a 1992 was the most recent one to need that done.
I really can't complain about the major parts of my 1995 Sierra. The seat motor burned out and was messing with some parts of the electrical system until I disconnected it, and I think there might be a loose connection somewhere in there, as the battery meter on the dashboard occasionally jumps around, but the truck seems definitely mechanically sound, and I've never had problems with serious parts of it, except that the battery that was in it when I bought it was surprisingly underpowered and ended up failing. Had sulfur build-up all around the posts and such.
I'd not heard about the jump-starting problem. And I really hate to sound like a luddite, but odd automated things like that are one of the reasons I've been reluctant to look around to replace my 1995 vehicle.
My family rented a 2003 Suburban for a vacation (family-sized vehicle was in the shop after a large tree-branch fell on it, distorting the roof and breaking windows) a couple of years back, and one scary "convenient" automation was that the doors unlocked when the vehicle was shifted into Park. That, to me, was a severe safety flaw. Here you are driving around in $40,000, and your doors unlock when you shift gears. Just so the driver doesn't have to press a button afterwards.
Haha, would that I had mod points. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. I'm just glad that cubicle walls mean that my face contorted in amusement went unseen.
Power is not voltage alone. And like you mentioned, it doesn't at all state the amount of hydrogen created or whether the efficiency is high enough that more energy isn't consumed in the production than is able to be used from the resultant hydrogen. Regardless, I suppose it's good news; increased efficiency is increased efficiency.
Not that the karma loss hurts me badly or anything, but there needs to be something like a "Not all that funny" or "Cheap shot" mod so people don't go around slapping "Overrated" on posts whose only positive moderation has been "Funny."
Out of curiosity, what kind of Mac do you have? You mention the speed increase, and I was just wondering if I should add that into my considerations for buying it for my Mac mini (G4, of course, with 32MB Radeon 9000 Mobility, and recently stuck in 512MB of PC3200 RAM).
Go rent (or buy, it's worth it) Arrested Development Season 1 DVDs today. It's an amazingly refreshing series with a unique style and incredibly dense humor held together by narrator Ron Howard. Every cast member performs amazingly and the timing is pretty much the best I've seen in a TV comedy. I saw all the episodes this season (the second) and can't wait for the DVDs, for watching and lending. If it's canceled, it will be probably the most disappointed I've been at a show's cancellation, with, I guess, the possible exception of Futurama.
I didn't realize it had two processors, but I did know that the processor is a 333MHz currently restricted to 222MHz. Which I guess one can argue makes it potentially more (or less? I don't know) power-efficient than an actual 222MHz one. Regardless, I'm assuming it's still a pretty big drain on the PSP's battery, though I guess it's probably not running at 222MHz when decoding MP3 files.
You might want to look into a new CD player. What kind of battery life does that Panasonic get you? (I'm actually genuinely curious) Newer CD players can get 30-50 hours on 2 AAs, even more if you use MP3 CDs (only on compatible players, of course) since it doesn't have to spin as fast to fill the buffer sufficiently to avoid skipping. If you use the CD player enough, a new one might save battery money in the long run, or at least the annoyance of having to change batteries as often. Plus the players are barely bigger than a CD these days.
Just for reference, my PSP plays mp3s without changing the format. I know it's not exclusively a digital audio player, but figured I'd throw that out. It plays both MP3 and Atrac3, and I've used it to transfer MP3s between two computers and they came out at the other end with their original format intact. I also have a Sony CD Walkman that plays MP3 and Atrac3 CDs (and has AM/FM/Weather/TV radio tuners). That thing gets some amazing battery life out of two AAs. Instead of my needing to recharge the PSP every day or so even if I only use it for playing audio those days. Of course, I guess the Walkman doesn't have a giant backlit LCD screen or a 222MHz CPU.
And the music in the big chamber when you're having to dispatch all the released shadow things only adds to the reluctant determination. And the final battle is one of the more dramatic I've seen in a game, too.
And even before that, there's the small period when Yorda is weakened, but you're right there at the now opened castle gates, and you feel terrible having to drag her along, and then the bridge starts receding and she tries to save you, and you really don't know what's going on after that.
I have so many games I have yet to finish, and now I'm just wanting to play Ico again.
It's one of the most impressive games I've played, visually and otherwise, and all on a CD, too (not DVD).
Yeah, I felt terrible for her and all, and really admired the atmosphere they're able to establish so early in the game... but then I found out that you can pick up stuff and that people react when you throw it at them.
You could blame other parts of it on just not yet knowing enough. Sure, there are monetary and ethical roadblocks to some things, but even a lot of that is completely experimental; there's no guarantee that there's some masive breakthrough that we would have reached by now if it wasn't for that one doctor hedging his bets until he got tenure, or that one protesting group that thought something was wrong. "Those cavemen must have been so greedy and religious. They just hit things with rocks and sticks. Where were their electron microscopes and infrared laser surgeries?"
I really think that the relatively low difficulty and relatively short play time are part of its appeal. I know they are to me. You never got stumped by the puzzles, and none of them were bizarrely abstract like some of the Resident Evil puzzles that are hard only because they are unintuitive, so you could move right on into the next amazingly well integrated and striking environment. I was in a decent hurry to get through the game and still only a couple of times needed to consult a walkthrough. My save game only has about 8 hours on it, but those 8 hours were some of the most absorbing and engaging gameplay I've experienced. The gameplay's simplicity was transparent enough that the layer of abstraction represented by the controller was largely unnoticeable. The same simplicity, of course, would likely have resulted in repetitiveness in a longer game, but in this case, the varied environments and absorbing play combined with the shorter play time, resulted in something that never felt old or repetitive.
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I read all the "Douglas approved" bits as reassurances more than evasions. If he had just said "I'm pretty sure it's great and you'll love it," it would have met with skepticism. This was, to me, intended to reassure the skeptics that they have attempted to stay very close to Adams's ideas, humor, and so on.
And as I replied to you earlier, I do like Katamari Damacy. You just can't hold it up and expect it to be proof that Japan has a creative edge over the rest of the world's game developers as so many here seem all to eager to do.
As for Slippy's grand adventure, I'm at least proud to say I didn't have to try very hard to come up with it; I just wasn't able at the time to come up with some wondrous, charming, and heretofore unimagined play mechanic. Point was, though, that not all "quirky" games are inspired bouts of creative genius coupled with expert game design. A good art director can quirk up the blandest of games.
And man, there was this amazingly quirky game. You traveled around a near featureless landscape until you ended up in pits with a flower. You then had to encourage the flower to grow, and escape the pits. I think it was called "E.T." or something.
Also, I do like Katamari Damacy. It actually is an example of a unique overall design backed up by solid gameplay and technical accomplishment, graphically and otherwise. I read Game Developer's postmortem on it and was impressed at what went into it and what eventually came of the efforts.
I also agree with Ebert's line, which he himself often breaks out in his own defense to explain his ratings.
Summary time: I like Katamari Damacy. It's a good game because of a combination of inspired design and excellent implementation. I get tired of hearing it trotted out everytime someone bemoans the lack of innovation, especially in reference to one geographical region's apparent superiority over another. Every part of the game industry is capable of producing uninspired products and regularly does so. Your line about "Yet Another FPS or Final Fantasy wannabe" fits that well. Every part of the game industry is also capable of producing unique and endearing gameplay and worlds, and reasonably frequently does so. I think that's it. I think the rest was sarcasm attempting to address those points.
I did not deny for a second that there are some innovative games from Japan. Nintendo makes great games. I simply stated that there are innovative games that are, apparently through some little-known flaw in the rAiNsTOrm Theory of Gaming Quality, somehow NOT made in Japan. While I know you enjoy your hyperbole, Splinter Cell is only on its third iteration. Each one has added unique new facets that affect the gameplay in positive ways. And out of curiosity, what do you think of the Metroid Prime Gamecube games, developed by Retro Studios, which I assume to be non-Japanese? Wait, hold on, I'll do it for you: "Typically pedestrian hack-job of a beloved and unique franchise. I resolved never to play it when I heard that it's in first-person."
And I'll add Mahjong(sp?) and terrible dating sims to your Japanese game list. I'm not saying that non-Japanese shovelware is all that much better, but the Japanese game industry is not pristine. We get the cream of the crop over here and miss maybe a couple of the good games every year. Also, Katamari Damacy would have failed over here if it was $40 or $50, and its success would likely have been diminished even at $30.
And I love how these game threads devolve into "Where's the innovation?", "Katamari Damacy! I am gaming elite!", and "Japan!11!!"
The best part is that this entire thread is about a Katamari Damacy SEQUEL, and the only new features mentioned are "more items to roll up."
The Western game industry has been behind some nice stuff, too. Everyone talks about how graphics are superfluous. The Splinter Cell games would not be the experience that they are without advanced lighting techniques. And each iteration has been adding genuinely new features and gameplay and actually getting better. Frequency and Amplitude are by Western developers. It's just not as black-and-white (another amazingly unique game, though you mentioned Molyneux already) as the Japanophiles constantly decree. There are conutless studios that routinely turn out great game experiences with unique additions. Grand Theft Auto. Jak & Daxter 1-3. Sly Cooper. These all add something unique and valuable to the gaming landscape and all are, what? Oh, wow! Not Japanese!
Play games that are good. Don't throw blanket statements over large chunks of the world. Deciding that a game that rewards playing for 80 hours to get the Blade of Obsessive Button Mashing or that features a sticky ball against quirky music and art somehow elevates an entire country's work above that of the rest of the world does not make it so. Oh, and saying "Kawaii", "Baka", "Arigato", "Sumimasen", and "Ittadakimasu" at every opportunity does not make you any better than someone else who hasn't seen all the episodes of Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl subtitled three times on fifth-generation bootleg tapes.
Thank you.
These particular pictures indicate something about the machine's capabilities and functionality, though. There's a 40GB hard drive crammed into the side, there are memory card slots (and another picture I saw last night seems to be of a 64MB card), there are no controller ports with the possible exception of a single legacy XBox 1 port...
Interestingly, he bought his 2.5"-3.5" IDE adapter from the guy you initially linked.
Since they're offering a 7200rpm 250GB drive+enclosure+hubs for $250, I'm going to assume the drives are 3.5" desktop type drives. I don't think they mention EIDE or SATA, but I would imagine that, since the USB or Firewire connection will probably be the speed bottleneck, the drives are probably the cheaper parallel type instead of serial.
I've been trying to think for several minutes if there are any advertising campaigns that have actually affected my purchasing habits, and with the exception of the occasional interesting new sandwich or burrito, I honestly don't think it does. Movie commercials rarely surprise me, as I've generally watched the trailers and read about them weeks or months before on the Internet, and make sure to read several reviews before paying to see a movie. Same with video games. I don't blindly purchase, I read reviews. There are some commercials that make me simply aware of a particular brand to the extent that if I see it, I'll think "Hey, I think I saw a commercial for that," but since that statement has never been followed by a purchase of the product, I'm almost completely certain that it does not affect my spending.
As for radio, I listen to the area public station and CDs, but I think that's because my taste in music tends to be fairly limited and not at all in sync with anytihng currently popular. If I do find myself listening to a commercial station, I'm back to NPR or a CD at the first commercial break.
Anyway, to reiterate, you don't have to completely deny yourself a television to avoid succumbing to its allures.
And the wipers: was it the motor or a problem with the controller that made them stop? My family has been using GM trucks for a while, and we've had to replace a few failed/failing wiper motors, though I think a 1992 was the most recent one to need that done.
I really can't complain about the major parts of my 1995 Sierra. The seat motor burned out and was messing with some parts of the electrical system until I disconnected it, and I think there might be a loose connection somewhere in there, as the battery meter on the dashboard occasionally jumps around, but the truck seems definitely mechanically sound, and I've never had problems with serious parts of it, except that the battery that was in it when I bought it was surprisingly underpowered and ended up failing. Had sulfur build-up all around the posts and such.
My family rented a 2003 Suburban for a vacation (family-sized vehicle was in the shop after a large tree-branch fell on it, distorting the roof and breaking windows) a couple of years back, and one scary "convenient" automation was that the doors unlocked when the vehicle was shifted into Park. That, to me, was a severe safety flaw. Here you are driving around in $40,000, and your doors unlock when you shift gears. Just so the driver doesn't have to press a button afterwards.
Haha, would that I had mod points. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. I'm just glad that cubicle walls mean that my face contorted in amusement went unseen.
Power is not voltage alone. And like you mentioned, it doesn't at all state the amount of hydrogen created or whether the efficiency is high enough that more energy isn't consumed in the production than is able to be used from the resultant hydrogen. Regardless, I suppose it's good news; increased efficiency is increased efficiency.
It's the Cadillac of automobiles!
Not that the karma loss hurts me badly or anything, but there needs to be something like a "Not all that funny" or "Cheap shot" mod so people don't go around slapping "Overrated" on posts whose only positive moderation has been "Funny."
Out of curiosity, what kind of Mac do you have? You mention the speed increase, and I was just wondering if I should add that into my considerations for buying it for my Mac mini (G4, of course, with 32MB Radeon 9000 Mobility, and recently stuck in 512MB of PC3200 RAM).
Does it make the screaming noise for you or something?
Go rent (or buy, it's worth it) Arrested Development Season 1 DVDs today. It's an amazingly refreshing series with a unique style and incredibly dense humor held together by narrator Ron Howard. Every cast member performs amazingly and the timing is pretty much the best I've seen in a TV comedy. I saw all the episodes this season (the second) and can't wait for the DVDs, for watching and lending. If it's canceled, it will be probably the most disappointed I've been at a show's cancellation, with, I guess, the possible exception of Futurama.
I didn't realize it had two processors, but I did know that the processor is a 333MHz currently restricted to 222MHz. Which I guess one can argue makes it potentially more (or less? I don't know) power-efficient than an actual 222MHz one. Regardless, I'm assuming it's still a pretty big drain on the PSP's battery, though I guess it's probably not running at 222MHz when decoding MP3 files.
You might want to look into a new CD player. What kind of battery life does that Panasonic get you? (I'm actually genuinely curious) Newer CD players can get 30-50 hours on 2 AAs, even more if you use MP3 CDs (only on compatible players, of course) since it doesn't have to spin as fast to fill the buffer sufficiently to avoid skipping. If you use the CD player enough, a new one might save battery money in the long run, or at least the annoyance of having to change batteries as often. Plus the players are barely bigger than a CD these days.
Just for reference, my PSP plays mp3s without changing the format. I know it's not exclusively a digital audio player, but figured I'd throw that out. It plays both MP3 and Atrac3, and I've used it to transfer MP3s between two computers and they came out at the other end with their original format intact. I also have a Sony CD Walkman that plays MP3 and Atrac3 CDs (and has AM/FM/Weather/TV radio tuners). That thing gets some amazing battery life out of two AAs. Instead of my needing to recharge the PSP every day or so even if I only use it for playing audio those days. Of course, I guess the Walkman doesn't have a giant backlit LCD screen or a 222MHz CPU.
And even before that, there's the small period when Yorda is weakened, but you're right there at the now opened castle gates, and you feel terrible having to drag her along, and then the bridge starts receding and she tries to save you, and you really don't know what's going on after that.
I have so many games I have yet to finish, and now I'm just wanting to play Ico again.
It's one of the most impressive games I've played, visually and otherwise, and all on a CD, too (not DVD).
Yeah, I felt terrible for her and all, and really admired the atmosphere they're able to establish so early in the game... but then I found out that you can pick up stuff and that people react when you throw it at them.
You could blame other parts of it on just not yet knowing enough. Sure, there are monetary and ethical roadblocks to some things, but even a lot of that is completely experimental; there's no guarantee that there's some masive breakthrough that we would have reached by now if it wasn't for that one doctor hedging his bets until he got tenure, or that one protesting group that thought something was wrong. "Those cavemen must have been so greedy and religious. They just hit things with rocks and sticks. Where were their electron microscopes and infrared laser surgeries?"
I really think that the relatively low difficulty and relatively short play time are part of its appeal. I know they are to me. You never got stumped by the puzzles, and none of them were bizarrely abstract like some of the Resident Evil puzzles that are hard only because they are unintuitive, so you could move right on into the next amazingly well integrated and striking environment. I was in a decent hurry to get through the game and still only a couple of times needed to consult a walkthrough. My save game only has about 8 hours on it, but those 8 hours were some of the most absorbing and engaging gameplay I've experienced. The gameplay's simplicity was transparent enough that the layer of abstraction represented by the controller was largely unnoticeable. The same simplicity, of course, would likely have resulted in repetitiveness in a longer game, but in this case, the varied environments and absorbing play combined with the shorter play time, resulted in something that never felt old or repetitive.