My daughter is in her teens, and has friends over to the house fairly regularly...
Two of them became absolutely addicted to Halo/Halo 2. The competition is what got them addicted, and they were frickin' crazy to watch. So intense, and they REALLY cared if they won or lost.
One of them was already into games, and she picked it up pretty easily. For the other one, it was only the 2nd or 3rd game she had ever played, and it took her a while to get the hang of it.
They would come over for hours and hours...even to the point where I was saying "No, I can't play anymore." (My daughter was getting pissed, because they would come over and play Halo, which she has *no* interest in.)
Finally, I had to hide the Halo disks...and when I did, one of them got their own Xbox, and they started playing over at her house. 6 months later, they are still playing tons of Halo 2 on Live.
Before then I had never seen a girl/woman addicted to games...just the 'oh, I love Pac Man' type...I would say that these Halo girls were actually a little scary...
But I just wanted to point out...not all girls need a cute game to get started with video games.
BUT, I work in a small IT department- and we spend about 1/2 of our weekly meeting talking about how 'stupid' these users are.
Not saying that I don't take part in the conversation...but I keep thinking to myself, "They aren't supposed to know this stuff, it isn't their job, it's OUR job."
I really hate it when we get on our high-horses and look down at people because they don't know as much about the computer they use as we do. I would hope not, otherwise we would be some weak-ass IT people.
I'm guilty to, and every IT person I have ever met is just as guilty. But when we need to purchase something, we walk over to the purchasing people and say 'I have no idea what I am doing, but I need to order this thing...' I wonder if when we leave, they all start laughing at us and call us a 'bunch of fucking idiots.'
I hope so...because we have some real arrogant bastards in IT who really need to realize that nobody else really gives a damn about the difference between right-click and left click...
Overall a post with so much truth that it hurts. But, I disagree on one statement you made:
if someone with no education can do your job cheaper, you don't deserve your job
Not every job needs to be one that requires education. Many people do great work, without education- they jut have the skill and drive to do a better job than others.
I recently went from being a non-degreed schmuck, to one with a degree. This didn't make my work any better.
I bought an Xbox in 2002, and it was pretty quiet. I couldn't understand what the big deal was about the noise.
That one broke (dropped onto the floor) and I had to buy a new one. The new one is LOUD....so maybe they have different fans..some louder, and some quieter..
Pre-pimped rigs are a stupid person's way to 'customize' their computer.
It's like legos...legos are a toy of creativity. When they start including pre-built shapes to look like spaceships, forts, or castles, it is all over. Who would want pre-built legos?
But in the city I live in (you can see my link if you care) the 'city officials' are just regular Joes off the street. People you know, live near, and work with.
They are not some sort of over-arching group bent on X-Files type conspiracies to get into our personal lives.
Just as I trust the sys admins at work to not give a damn what I am doing (since I am one of the sys admins, I know this to be true) I don't believe the city would give a crap either.
Maybe it's because my tin-foil-hat blew away, and I never bothered looking for it...but I truly do not think that anyone really cares what sites I visit.
The ONLY program that ever crashes for me is Dreamweaver.
And it usually has to do with not being able to access a shared drive.
Why losing a connection to a shared drive would crash the program...I don't know. But on days that my Internet connection is not stable, Dreamweaver WILL crash. Or actually it will stop responding...
I haven't had any other program crash for a very, very long time.
Google is very important and I believe it has changed the face of the search industry, and the way that the web is used.
5 years ago, I spent time 'surfing the web' by using things like 'Yahoo Cool Sites' and their 'Surfers Picks.' I'd get to an interesting site and pretty much read the entire thing. Sites like 'Mississippi Mobile Homes' (pre-commercialization) and 'Avocado Memories' still stick in my head many years after I first saw them.
Now, I don't look at entire sites, I only look at individual pages. I do a search on a subject and find what I am looking for. The snippet on Google ensures that I don't just randomly click on sites until I find the right one- I usually find it right away.
This is good, this is efficient, this is great. But it is a lot less fun.
I run a site (see my sig) which has about 55 different pages on it. As I look at my site statistics, I see that most of my visitors only view one page. Of course this could mean that they don't like it, so they leave. That's okay. But, my number one referrer is actually Google IMAGES. So I guess that a lot of people are coming just to steal a picture, then they leave.
So the Internet experience has changed. People no longer surf the web, they use it. But if I compare it to a magazine, I think it has lost a lot of it's charm. For instance, if I am reading Newsweek, I enjoy all of the OTHER stuff, like the comics page, the side-bars, the one page stories, the sub-stories from the main article, etc. etc. But if I was doing research on the web, I would miss all of that and go straight to yet another boring story about Iraq.
I use the web all day long, and Google is indespensible. But sometimes it would be nice just to stop and smell the roses, wander around and see what's out there. But it's hard to do when what I want is available right from the Google toolbar.
"Why should I have to sign an agreement?" one audience member demanded to know.
If I were the guy on stage, I would be very tempted to reply with "Why should we open this up to you anyway?"
Some people expect a lot- for nothing.
It is amazing who you meet when you do something 'for the public.' I run a totally-free, totally-unsponsored web app. It is a combination calendaring/weight and exercise tracking/reminder/organizer/bulletin board. Think Weight Watchers on-line for free - with a calendar.
It is surprising how often people send me things like - "I won't use your system until you do xxx" or more commonly "I DEMAND that you make the following changes or we will stop using your system."
That is why I went from being an involved host, to being the guy who is seen as a dis-interested developer. The moment you show interest, there will be a bunch of people (about 5% as far as I can tell) who feel that it is their god-given right to demand that everything works exactly the way they want it to. And instead of just going away, they do things like organize a boycott, and post hundreds of messages in the bulletin board complaining about the perceived problems.
What the complainers don't realize, is that they only make up a small percentage of the users, and the other 95% use the system and are fairly happy. Of course there were other people who were un-happy, and they moved on- possibly to Weight Watchers, where they are paying $200/year- of COURSE it is better, I am sure they have more than one developer.
So- I am not saying that Microsoft should, or should not open up their system more. I am just saying that there is always at least ONE jackass out there who feels that the world owes them everything, just for the honor of having the jackass use their software.
Stranger's Wrath was a sleeper- along the lines of Metal Arms...but better. Hell- it was FIRST and THIRD person...so it was at least twice as good!
This was one of the best games I have played in the last few years. I enjoyed the entire thing all the way through. It never got boring, and looked awesome all the way through.
Too bad people didn't buy Stranger's Wrath in droves, because I would like to see a lot more from them.
Yeah...resetting the leader boards is a good idea.
My problem is that I played A LOT up until about 2 months ago. I was able to achieve a decently high level. Now I can't go on without getting cremated. Not fun...I probably need to drop down at least 5 or 6 levels.
So...I look forward to going back to being a level 1 guy...so I can kill SOMEBODY.
Well a lot of times they put Racing in the sports category. So, I'll talk about racing...
One of the crack-addict submitters to the original story said: "PC racers include Burnout, Need for Speed, and so on, with the same dull, lifeless AI."
If he thinks Burnout 3 (he mentioned the '3' earlier in the story) has dull, lifeless AI he is completely insane.
That game has the most aggressive AI I have ever played against. The first time the other cars came after me and rammed me off the road in a big ball of flames I nearly shit my pants. And it was like that hour after hour after hour. (I changed my pants a lot.)
So...take their list with a grain of salt...
Re:I want animated program icons
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I read a copy of MacWorld the other day...
That magazine was filled with so much FUD it was sick.
90% of the magazine was filled with ridiculous comparisons between PC & Mac. For instance, their retarded article comparing the Mac Mini to a Dell. The Mac is $499, and the Dell they used was $450. The first thing they did was discount the fact that the Dell came with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I think they took off about $93 for that. So really, they were were comparing a $500 computer to a $350 computer (less actually, the keyboard, mouse and monitor were going to cost more than $93 for the Mac Mini) and they of course went on to find that the Mac was a better computer.
I'm not saying that the Mac Mini isn't a good deal, or that it is not competitive. But, their method of comparison was so horribly skewed it was sick. But if I was a real 'Mac-ie' I wouldn't have looked at the logic, I would have just thought 'Macs are better, and now they are CHEAPER!'
Then of course I came to the 'games' section of the magazine. Oh my freakin' lord. What a load of crap they were spewing there. When they were saying that the Mac was the BEST gaming platform (It has Doom 3!!!) I knew they were completely off their rocker.
My wife (the Mac-ie in the family) didn't understand why I was yelling "this is a load of SHIT!" when I threw the magazine. She just wanted to look at the selection of iPod accessories they were highlighting...
Slashdot Mirror
My daughter is in her teens, and has friends over to the house fairly regularly...
Two of them became absolutely addicted to Halo/Halo 2. The competition is what got them addicted, and they were frickin' crazy to watch. So intense, and they REALLY cared if they won or lost.
One of them was already into games, and she picked it up pretty easily. For the other one, it was only the 2nd or 3rd game she had ever played, and it took her a while to get the hang of it.
They would come over for hours and hours...even to the point where I was saying "No, I can't play anymore." (My daughter was getting pissed, because they would come over and play Halo, which she has *no* interest in.)
Finally, I had to hide the Halo disks...and when I did, one of them got their own Xbox, and they started playing over at her house. 6 months later, they are still playing tons of Halo 2 on Live.
Before then I had never seen a girl/woman addicted to games...just the 'oh, I love Pac Man' type...I would say that these Halo girls were actually a little scary...
But I just wanted to point out...not all girls need a cute game to get started with video games.
Good point...
BUT, I work in a small IT department- and we spend about 1/2 of our weekly meeting talking about how 'stupid' these users are.
Not saying that I don't take part in the conversation...but I keep thinking to myself, "They aren't supposed to know this stuff, it isn't their job, it's OUR job."
I really hate it when we get on our high-horses and look down at people because they don't know as much about the computer they use as we do. I would hope not, otherwise we would be some weak-ass IT people.
I'm guilty to, and every IT person I have ever met is just as guilty. But when we need to purchase something, we walk over to the purchasing people and say 'I have no idea what I am doing, but I need to order this thing...' I wonder if when we leave, they all start laughing at us and call us a 'bunch of fucking idiots.'
I hope so...because we have some real arrogant bastards in IT who really need to realize that nobody else really gives a damn about the difference between right-click and left click...
People stuck with legacy systems that need to be maintained into the foreseeable future.
.Net.
.Net. Take your pick.
Until management finally pony ups some money to rebuild them.
And when they do...it will probably be
So- perl, or
Overall a post with so much truth that it hurts. But, I disagree on one statement you made:
if someone with no education can do your job cheaper, you don't deserve your job
Not every job needs to be one that requires education. Many people do great work, without education- they jut have the skill and drive to do a better job than others.
I recently went from being a non-degreed schmuck, to one with a degree. This didn't make my work any better.
I bought an Xbox in 2002, and it was pretty quiet. I couldn't understand what the big deal was about the noise.
That one broke (dropped onto the floor) and I had to buy a new one. The new one is LOUD....so maybe they have different fans..some louder, and some quieter..
Yes...exactly...correct...right.
That is why they are talking about 'micro' payments in the NEXT generation of the Xbox.
So, their idea of micro is sub $5.00 (or whatever that converts to in currencies throughout the world.)
This is something they are adding, not something they are doing now.
No...not Woodland,WA-
Woodland, CA
Another absolutely boring little town- just in a different state. And yes, I5 goes through here too.
Hey- I thought it was funny.
Marlon Brando was one of the young, tough, sexy heros of American cinema in the middle of this past century.
The fact that he ballooned up like a huge, over-inflated (yet not too tight) beach ball gives hope to men all throughout America.
It also depresses the hell out of the women.
Well, that was my gateway into programming.
First I had to make MENUS for my game disks. So when you put them into the old Apple ][, a menu of the games on the disk came up.
Then I had to make LISTS of games, which read from a text file, and were editable.
Of course I had to learn how to COPY the games. Can't do without that.
Finally I had to WRITE my own games- which blew more than Jenna Jameson...but they gave me a certain little thrill.
If it hadn't been for games, I never would have started in this industry. And now 25 years later, I am still doing it.
But just think...maybe if I hadn't gotten into this industry, Jenna Jameson might be blowing ME.
Absolutely- it is time!
Just play ATV vs. MX Unleashed with an Xbox on an HD TV.
Yes, it is clear...but man- you can see the possibility for SO MUCH MORE!
I'm ready fro the HD era...bring it on!
Unless of course you are old enough that Natalie could be your daughter...
Yeah, I expected more.
But at least they did use 'classic' graphics, instead of the new crap.
But then we miss Amadala...hmm...Leia or Amadala....
Pre-pimped rigs are a stupid person's way to 'customize' their computer.
It's like legos...legos are a toy of creativity. When they start including pre-built shapes to look like spaceships, forts, or castles, it is all over. Who would want pre-built legos?
Well this is the same sort of thing.
I do not know what type of city you live in...
But in the city I live in (you can see my link if you care) the 'city officials' are just regular Joes off the street. People you know, live near, and work with.
They are not some sort of over-arching group bent on X-Files type conspiracies to get into our personal lives.
Just as I trust the sys admins at work to not give a damn what I am doing (since I am one of the sys admins, I know this to be true) I don't believe the city would give a crap either.
Maybe it's because my tin-foil-hat blew away, and I never bothered looking for it...but I truly do not think that anyone really cares what sites I visit.
The best ones are the palm tree look-a-likes.
A palm tree is fairly symetrical to begin with. And if it is well taken care of, it just looks like a bunch of fronds on a big pole.
Here is a decent example.
The ONLY program that ever crashes for me is Dreamweaver.
And it usually has to do with not being able to access a shared drive.
Why losing a connection to a shared drive would crash the program...I don't know. But on days that my Internet connection is not stable, Dreamweaver WILL crash. Or actually it will stop responding...
I haven't had any other program crash for a very, very long time.
Google is very important and I believe it has changed the face of the search industry, and the way that the web is used.
5 years ago, I spent time 'surfing the web' by using things like 'Yahoo Cool Sites' and their 'Surfers Picks.' I'd get to an interesting site and pretty much read the entire thing. Sites like 'Mississippi Mobile Homes' (pre-commercialization) and 'Avocado Memories' still stick in my head many years after I first saw them.
Now, I don't look at entire sites, I only look at individual pages. I do a search on a subject and find what I am looking for. The snippet on Google ensures that I don't just randomly click on sites until I find the right one- I usually find it right away.
This is good, this is efficient, this is great. But it is a lot less fun.
I run a site (see my sig) which has about 55 different pages on it. As I look at my site statistics, I see that most of my visitors only view one page. Of course this could mean that they don't like it, so they leave. That's okay. But, my number one referrer is actually Google IMAGES. So I guess that a lot of people are coming just to steal a picture, then they leave.
So the Internet experience has changed. People no longer surf the web, they use it. But if I compare it to a magazine, I think it has lost a lot of it's charm. For instance, if I am reading Newsweek, I enjoy all of the OTHER stuff, like the comics page, the side-bars, the one page stories, the sub-stories from the main article, etc. etc. But if I was doing research on the web, I would miss all of that and go straight to yet another boring story about Iraq.
I use the web all day long, and Google is indespensible. But sometimes it would be nice just to stop and smell the roses, wander around and see what's out there. But it's hard to do when what I want is available right from the Google toolbar.
How many people pre-ordered Halo 2?
They'll be paying for the maps.
So is Microsoft a bunch of money-grubbing assholes for charging for these maps...
Or is Microsoft a monopolist, who is using their bankroll by under-writing the cost of the Xbox.
Just trying to get the story straight...god knows I want to be up to date on my groupthink!
"Why should I have to sign an agreement?" one audience member demanded to know.
If I were the guy on stage, I would be very tempted to reply with "Why should we open this up to you anyway?"
Some people expect a lot- for nothing.
It is amazing who you meet when you do something 'for the public.' I run a totally-free, totally-unsponsored web app. It is a combination calendaring/weight and exercise tracking/reminder/organizer/bulletin board. Think Weight Watchers on-line for free - with a calendar.
It is surprising how often people send me things like - "I won't use your system until you do xxx" or more commonly "I DEMAND that you make the following changes or we will stop using your system."
That is why I went from being an involved host, to being the guy who is seen as a dis-interested developer. The moment you show interest, there will be a bunch of people (about 5% as far as I can tell) who feel that it is their god-given right to demand that everything works exactly the way they want it to. And instead of just going away, they do things like organize a boycott, and post hundreds of messages in the bulletin board complaining about the perceived problems.
What the complainers don't realize, is that they only make up a small percentage of the users, and the other 95% use the system and are fairly happy. Of course there were other people who were un-happy, and they moved on- possibly to Weight Watchers, where they are paying $200/year- of COURSE it is better, I am sure they have more than one developer.
So- I am not saying that Microsoft should, or should not open up their system more. I am just saying that there is always at least ONE jackass out there who feels that the world owes them everything, just for the honor of having the jackass use their software.
Stranger's Wrath was a sleeper- along the lines of Metal Arms...but better. Hell- it was FIRST and THIRD person...so it was at least twice as good!
This was one of the best games I have played in the last few years. I enjoyed the entire thing all the way through. It never got boring, and looked awesome all the way through.
Too bad people didn't buy Stranger's Wrath in droves, because I would like to see a lot more from them.
They are only supposed to fix the Live components. Repeatedly in the article, they mentioned 'this will not affect the single player campaign.'
They can UPGRADE single player games, but not patch them. (Ninja Gaiden for example)
Yeah...resetting the leader boards is a good idea.
My problem is that I played A LOT up until about 2 months ago. I was able to achieve a decently high level. Now I can't go on without getting cremated. Not fun...I probably need to drop down at least 5 or 6 levels.
So...I look forward to going back to being a level 1 guy...so I can kill SOMEBODY.
Well a lot of times they put Racing in the sports category. So, I'll talk about racing...
One of the crack-addict submitters to the original story said: "PC racers include Burnout, Need for Speed, and so on, with the same dull, lifeless AI."
If he thinks Burnout 3 (he mentioned the '3' earlier in the story) has dull, lifeless AI he is completely insane.
That game has the most aggressive AI I have ever played against. The first time the other cars came after me and rammed me off the road in a big ball of flames I nearly shit my pants. And it was like that hour after hour after hour. (I changed my pants a lot.)
So...take their list with a grain of salt...
I read a copy of MacWorld the other day...
That magazine was filled with so much FUD it was sick.
90% of the magazine was filled with ridiculous comparisons between PC & Mac. For instance, their retarded article comparing the Mac Mini to a Dell. The Mac is $499, and the Dell they used was $450. The first thing they did was discount the fact that the Dell came with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I think they took off about $93 for that. So really, they were were comparing a $500 computer to a $350 computer (less actually, the keyboard, mouse and monitor were going to cost more than $93 for the Mac Mini) and they of course went on to find that the Mac was a better computer.
I'm not saying that the Mac Mini isn't a good deal, or that it is not competitive. But, their method of comparison was so horribly skewed it was sick. But if I was a real 'Mac-ie' I wouldn't have looked at the logic, I would have just thought 'Macs are better, and now they are CHEAPER!'
Then of course I came to the 'games' section of the magazine. Oh my freakin' lord. What a load of crap they were spewing there. When they were saying that the Mac was the BEST gaming platform (It has Doom 3!!!) I knew they were completely off their rocker.
My wife (the Mac-ie in the family) didn't understand why I was yelling "this is a load of SHIT!" when I threw the magazine. She just wanted to look at the selection of iPod accessories they were highlighting...