Electronic Arts is opening a dev studio in China, hoping to open up the world's largest market to online gaming.
Or more likely, they are looking for programmers that will work cheaper than what they have to pay programmers in the USA. I for one am not looking forward to Madden 2006 "The Sweatshop Edition".
refused classification and banned by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) due to its sexual content.
Maybe some of our Australian friends can help us out with this, but why would they ban this game? It can't be any worse than an "American Pie" type movie, or any other recent comedy films. Is Australia this strict with it's movies also?
Did they advertise this anywhere? When Unreal Tournament was at the peak of it's popularity (2000) I played for #1 on the OGL 1v1 Deathmatch ladder, and I never even heard of these video game olympics.
I've been trying to do a lot of research laely into the candidates for our upcoming election,
You've already done more that most voters then.
and discussions I have with other people are for the most part an extremely disappointing experience. I am frankly shocked that people would vote "just to get W out of office" or "I vote for Bush because I hate Democrats" etc.
It's unfortunate but since there are only two candidates to really choose from, it's hard to find someone that meets your unique political viewpoint, especially if you are independant.
I hear a lot of rhetoric about "throwing your vote away". This is usually used as a reason to not vote for Nader, or the Libetarian party, etc.
Which is silly, since just 5% of the vote is needed to ensure that a party gets funding in the next election and is on the ballet in every state.
But it seems to me that a vote "just go get bush out of office" or a vote for a party just cause your parents raised you republican or democrat is really the wasted vote.
Well it accomplishes the main objective if you want Bush out of office, but I'd like to think there are better reasons to vote for either candidate.
I think people have lost the focus that a vote is your own personal voice on how our country should be led. It's a sad state of affairs that we're stuck in this 2 party mentality
This has been stressed since Perot ran in 92 and scared both sides to death by getting 19% of the vote. Since then the debates have been taken out of the hands of the league of women voters and a phoney debate commision was created to expressly keep third party candidates out of the presidential debates. It also seems strange that in 2000 where many people on both sides of the coin expressed how much they disliked their candidates, it turned into one of the most bitter and devisive elections ever. Most republicans I know disliked Bush, and most democrats didn't want Gore. They went from that to latching on to their candidates when the election was close.
where often people don't vote because they understand the issues of their candidate, or even know what their candidates' stance on the issues are, but cast a vote solely because it's their family tradition, or their hatred towards the other opponent.
That does drive me nuts, I've met people on both sides who said yeah I'm going to vote for so and so....yet they wouldn't know their stance on a key issues (immigration, taxes, abortion, etc)
I really wish that we could push through an electoral reform that would allow for multiple votes (#1 choice, 2nd choice, etc) or something.
This would be good for the third parties, but what would happen is what happens in the NFL pro bowl balloting with players. They vote their teammates first, then anyone who has no chance of winning second and third that way other people don't get the points/votes for the second place vote.
I think the power of the people has been stolen by this charade where it's not about the issues, or who is really the best leader, or what a political party will do (or not do) for a country, but something that is done in a thoughtless, rote manner.
It's basically turned into a tribal warfare type thing. The extremes people believe are crazy too. I don't think Kerry would turn the US into Israel where we would be having terror attacks every day. Nor do I think Bush would start the fourth reich. But you find people who actually believe this stuff...it's crazy.
I saw excerpts from Faranheit 911 where some protester says "I'd rather vote for a single celled organism than vote for Bush". What does that say about the value of your vote sir? I realise that's his opinion and he's entitled to vote with his opinion, but what does a choice using that methodology do to our country? Is Bush reallly absolutely the worst possible leader of our country? Is there no one worse to
"Ordinary" games such as first-person-shooters provide this sense of progression to a lesser degree. The more you play the better you get and when you perceive the progress you get your serotonin rush. However, after a while you get tired or hungry, your performance suffers and ends the reward of continued play. MMORPGS are less skill-intensive and continue to reward the player for button-mashing until they can no longer keep their eyes open.
But online ladders provide some "serotonin" feedback for FPS games that are way above the levels you can get for most MMORPG's. Playing for the number one spot in a league like OGL is quite a rush. There isn't any real point where you can know you are the "Number one rat killer" in everquest. Maybe Star wars galaxies has something like this with their new Jedi ranking system...
want to turn on my computer and do things with it. So do most people. A computer is a tool like a car - just because I don't know how to build a transmission doesn't mean I shouldn't drive.
But you realize with your car to change the oil every so often or take it to someone who can. You might even have it winterized every year. You probably buy new tires every few years and even get it washed sometimes.
All that is needed is a basic computer class (ie like getting your drivers licence), an auto-updating virus scanner and adaware type software. I don't think that is much harder than what anyone has to do to own a car.
s far as people guessing their chances at being hit by malicious code... They probably seriously believe that malicious code means that they bring home a disk and put it in their drive and run a program that will be an old-sk00l virus. They have no idea that there are programs out there "spying" on them every minute of their surfing experience. They just don't care enough to know.
I think the everyday user thinks the worst that can happen to him or her is that someone is watching them, or their computer is ruined. Most users don't take their thinking to the next level to reason that someone could take over their computer, and use it to attack another one and if this could be done to a majority of machines on the internet for a few days it would have a negative effect on the economy.
Overall, you can blame Bush for talking about nukes but those ARE the threats most people are worried about even if the odds of them happening are lower, because the stakes are higher. Joe user thinks the worst a virus can do is destroy his computer. Joe user thinks the worst a nuke bomb can do is kill him and everyone he knows. Which one do you expect him to be worried about?
Also, on the nuclear bomb thing, foreign policy experts agree, and have agreed for years that the largest practical terrorist threat to the US is nuclear weapons in the wrong hands. If you don't think it could happen I suggest you check out "Osamas Revenge: THE NEXT 9/11 : What the Media and the Government Haven't Told You" It's a pretty good book, and you can pick it up at amazon.com
This story says that consumers have a casual approach toward cybersecurity and fail to grasp the pervasiveness of online threats, according to a study released Thursday
For all the money they probably pump into cybersecurity, can't they start a nationwide campaign to educate users?
It's Gutsy for him to come out and say it. His statement:
However, what happens is that we strive to include absolutely everything we've ever dreamt of and, in my enthusiasm, I talk about it to anyone who'll listen, mainly in press interviews. When I tell people about what we're planning, I'm telling the truth, and people, of course, expect to see all the features I've mentioned. And when some of the most ambitious ideas get altered, redesigned or even dropped, people rightly want to know what happened to them.
Anyone who has ever developed software for a living knows this is the truth. Early on you spec out cool features, come up with great ideas, etc, etc. Your game/app is going to be the "BEST EVER!"...then somewhere along the way in the development process reality kicks you in the face. Bad features sometimes get added, good ones need to be dropped for technical reasons or time constraints.
The crappy part about it is, usually you only talk to people in your company about an app early on. Or maybe if you are in a small shitty company you talk to the press and no one cares. But the "big name" programmers are expected to deliever on everything they say and then some. It takes a lot of guts for Molyneux to step up and say sorry I couldn't give you everything I said.
The executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Convention, Joke Waller-Hunter, said: "President Putin has given an inspiring signal to the international community. By giving industry, local authorities and consumers incentives to take action on climate change, Russia and the 29 other industrialised countries that have joined the protocol will set themselves on a path to greater economic efficiency."
Somehow I can't take a guy named "Joke" as someone that has a serious opinion.
Russia's move means that US business will be cut out of the new carbon trading markets which have already been set up in London. Countries and companies in the scheme have targets to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. If they exceed their targets they will be able to sell the extra carbon "saved" to other countries or companies which have failed to do so. The market is expected to be worth tens of billions of pounds a year.
Good, then maybe the US can stop sending insane amounts of foreign aid to Russia. Just a stop on the 2.8 billion they have gotten from the "Freedom support act" of 2001 would be enough. That money can go twards the US finding alternative fuel sources. YEY!
My karma has dropped significantly since I started posted in Politics, so I'm with you, brother. I've even seen screens informing me that my IP has been banned from posting, either anonymously or through my own account (which oddly enough forces me to post anonymously.)
Same here, where my Karma was excellent before It's gotten killed since the Slashdot poltics section has started and I've been posting in it. I guess you have to expect that if you go against the group think.
It's a shame people can't discuss contrasting views without being modded down. Karma shouldn't apply to the politics section...or to the Java section for that matter!
Failure of Imagination, of course! The current administration had an Agenda the day it hit the oval office,
Granted, but it's not like previous administrations were that much more creative.
and has been executing that Agenda ever since. The 9/11 incident was a speed bump I'm sure, and forced them to invade Afghanistan before they could proceed to their Real military goal. (Take a look at: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/repub lican/features/platform.00/#53 and focus on the 5th and especially 6th paragraphs. Read more and get more scared.)
I'm not too scared, Iran would be the next step in the neo-con playbook, but it seems like bush is distancing himself from them. Iran won't be permitted to have nuclear weapons, if the US doesn't attack Isreal will. The US is about to sell Israel "bunker buster" bombs that could be used in an attack in Iran.
Iraq had been blowing off the UN and weapon inspectors for some time. Even during the Clinton years. The fact is, the members of the UN who voted against taking action in Iraq did so for their own interest. France and Russia were both in on the food for oil scam. China was seeking to limit US power. About the only country I think might have been honestly against the war in Iraq was Germany. It was obvious that Saddam was defying the UN, and action should have been taken. On top of that, even putin admits that Saddam was planning terrorist strikes on the US.
Given that base, "execute plan regardless of facts," and what do you expect. It is a distinctly unimaginative administration - they've got their Agenda, and they're executing it. Incidentally, 9/11 also gave them the pretext and acceptance of "fuller measures" to aid law enforcement, too.
The patriot act applies laws that were already on the books used to fight Drug Dealers and Mafia Members to terrorists. The only difference is politicians won't defend drug dealers or mafia members, but they will defend Terrorists.
The machine called "The US Government" had multiple failures that day. In fact, the only correct, effective response was by passengers. Grounding all air traffic was correct, and might have been effective had there been more jets-as-missiles planned, and did serve to restart air traffic with better security.
And the passengers only found out because their plane was delayed that day. Had it taken off on time, it would have hit the white house (or wherever it was going) around the same time the other planes hit the WTC.
I don't know why nobody ever thought about this scenario pre-9/11 it's been discussed in several books, one of which was by Tom Clancy. Can't the government hire creative people who can sit around and think about how to attack them all day?
Pre-ordering just allows game shops to keep crappier sellection on hand all while providing them with contact info for them to market to you through. If they're going to get your $50 anyway, why give it to them 3 months in advance?
Not to mention that, but for PC games it REALLY sucks. Imagine pre-ordering Half life 2 a year and a month ago thinking it was going to make last septembers release date (or whenever it was around then). The $50 you plop down on a game allows the retailer to make interest on that money before the game comes out. Meanwhile you could be investing that $50 yourself for that 1 year +. The only time pre-ordering makes sense is if you are a really hardcore fan and are getting something extra and need the game the day it releases. On top of that, if you pre-order you basically have to rely on that stores schedule. If they don't get it on the launch day because their shipment fucks up, then you don't get it.
I find I have the best luck just calling around to the stores on the release date to see who has it first then going to get it. Sure it's a pain in the ass, but then I don't have to put money down in advance, and I can get the game at my earliest convience.
Gaming sure has come a long way..
on
Glitch Art
·
· Score: 2, Funny
This is the Video Game equvilant of abstract art. It's all downhill from here folks!
I really hate the way Sun promotes their versioning. Have you ever tried explaining to someone new to the language that Java 2 is really Java 1.2 or whatever version it was?
JavaNewbie- "Why are we using Java 1.4, hasn't Java 2 been out for a long time"
Java had all this hype about it when it was promoted nearly a decade ago, but it never got anywhere close to the point where you could walk into your local computer store and buy a major software package that could be run on any platform. I recall that Corel was going to attempt to release a WordPerfect that ran using Java, but that's the most I heard of it being adopted by mainsteam software developers. Does anyone think it will ever take?
The problem becomes what version do you code for? You never really know which version a person has, and sometimes they may not want to upgrade or be technically inclined enough to upgrade. For example, IIRC full screen mode wasn't available prior to 1.4.1 so if you were to code using that class it wouldn't run on an old JVM. I guess you can make it a requirement on boxed software, but if you ask most users what version of Java they have you will get a shrug in return.
Half-Life multiplayer is dominated by Day of Defeat, Counterstrike, etc. Back when HL came out, Quake 3 was the big multiplayer thing (until Unreal Tournament came out). Mods are what HL multiplayer is known for.
Hahah, this is so funny. Really, I'm not trying to flame anyone, but do you even know what you are talking about? First off, "Back when Half life came out" was in October of 1998. Unreal tournament AND Quake 3 came out in October/November of *1999*. Half life had a full year with no competition from those games. And your statement that Quake 3 was the big thing until unreal tournament came out makes no sense since UT came out a MONTH earlier than Q3!
This is a non-issue. Modders will easily come up with a "Deathmatch Classic" mod
That is great. Some of us expect certain features out of the box though. Also, while the mod community has proven it can produce great mods (counterstrike), it makes plenty of shit too. Leaving a feature as critical to a FPS as multiplayer to the mod community isn't a good idea. I realize the focus of the original half life was single player, however there are a lot of players like me who are interested in just multiplayer, and buy FPS games only if they have multiplayer.
These spam games are utterly worthless. A friend asked me to play Kings of Chaos which works the same as outwar with her for a little while. She kept telling me "Try it, you will like it". Bascially, the more clicks you get on your link, the larger your "army" growns and you gain more gold. But you can only click the link once a day. Most of the players on there have "buddy click lists" and just sit around clicking each others links all day.
Anyway, to make my army grow, I posted a few links here on slashdot, and also on the USENET. Within a day I had 800 soldiers (clicks) much to the amazment of my friend. I quit playing after that.
Several people here on slashdot said they reported me, but my account was never cancelled, nor was I warned. These games are nothing but spam factories and they have no regard for their users spamming their links all over.
Immigration is taking care of this problem, now and for the forseeable future (in the US at any rate).
Not really, Mexico's replacement rate has dropped dramatically in the past 10 years, in another 10-20 years they will be below replacement rate, which means less people immigrating over here. The countries over replacement rate are mostly ones that are unfriendly to us with the exception of India and China.
Interesting... so just how many Iraqis lives IS an American life worth to you, then? 5,000? 50,000? Would you kill every single Iraqi in the world if it would save one American life?
Just keep telling yourself "they are sub-human, their lives don't count", and you can probably justify any number of deaths. That sort of thinking is how genocides happen.
I knew someone would take the bait, I was suprised it was so many. The comment doesn't reflect my own views, but how Slashdotters ACT like Americans think. Like whenever an American mentions their dead, they say "OMG YEW KILLED 10,000 IRAQIZ THE AMERICANS DEATHS DONT COUNT". The following "slashisms" are total bullshit...
1. Americans are slaughtering innocent Iraqi's. Yes innocent people have likely died in that10,000, but how many of them were terrorists fighting the Americans?
2. Americans don't care about foreigners. Everyone here acts like America is some kind of "Great Satan" and American citizens are these idiotic racist, bigotted SUV driving morons. While everyone here preaches that Judging someone by their nationality is wrong, there is clearly a double standard when it comes to Americans
3. Americans can't talk about crimes against humanity because America does the same things as China, and other lawless regimes. This one is the biggest bunch of bullshit, America has done more for freedom throughout history than ANY other country.
Slashdot Mirror
Electronic Arts is opening a dev studio in China, hoping to open up the world's largest market to online gaming.
Or more likely, they are looking for programmers that will work cheaper than what they have to pay programmers in the USA. I for one am not looking forward to Madden 2006 "The Sweatshop Edition".
refused classification and banned by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) due to its sexual content.
Maybe some of our Australian friends can help us out with this, but why would they ban this game? It can't be any worse than an "American Pie" type movie, or any other recent comedy films. Is Australia this strict with it's movies also?
Did they advertise this anywhere? When Unreal Tournament was at the peak of it's popularity (2000) I played for #1 on the OGL 1v1 Deathmatch ladder, and I never even heard of these video game olympics.
I've been trying to do a lot of research laely into the candidates for our upcoming election,
You've already done more that most voters then.
and discussions I have with other people are for the most part an extremely disappointing experience. I am frankly shocked that people would vote "just to get W out of office" or "I vote for Bush because I hate Democrats" etc.
It's unfortunate but since there are only two candidates to really choose from, it's hard to find someone that meets your unique political viewpoint, especially if you are independant.
I hear a lot of rhetoric about "throwing your vote away". This is usually used as a reason to not vote for Nader, or the Libetarian party, etc.
Which is silly, since just 5% of the vote is needed to ensure that a party gets funding in the next election and is on the ballet in every state.
But it seems to me that a vote "just go get bush out of office" or a vote for a party just cause your parents raised you republican or democrat is really the wasted vote.
Well it accomplishes the main objective if you want Bush out of office, but I'd like to think there are better reasons to vote for either candidate.
I think people have lost the focus that a vote is your own personal voice on how our country should be led. It's a sad state of affairs that we're stuck in this 2 party mentality
This has been stressed since Perot ran in 92 and scared both sides to death by getting 19% of the vote. Since then the debates have been taken out of the hands of the league of women voters and a phoney debate commision was created to expressly keep third party candidates out of the presidential debates. It also seems strange that in 2000 where many people on both sides of the coin expressed how much they disliked their candidates, it turned into one of the most bitter and devisive elections ever. Most republicans I know disliked Bush, and most democrats didn't want Gore. They went from that to latching on to their candidates when the election was close.
where often people don't vote because they understand the issues of their candidate, or even know what their candidates' stance on the issues are, but cast a vote solely because it's their family tradition, or their hatred towards the other opponent.
That does drive me nuts, I've met people on both sides who said yeah I'm going to vote for so and so....yet they wouldn't know their stance on a key issues (immigration, taxes, abortion, etc)
I really wish that we could push through an electoral reform that would allow for multiple votes (#1 choice, 2nd choice, etc) or something.
This would be good for the third parties, but what would happen is what happens in the NFL pro bowl balloting with players. They vote their teammates first, then anyone who has no chance of winning second and third that way other people don't get the points/votes for the second place vote.
I think the power of the people has been stolen by this charade where it's not about the issues, or who is really the best leader, or what a political party will do (or not do) for a country, but something that is done in a thoughtless, rote manner.
It's basically turned into a tribal warfare type thing. The extremes people believe are crazy too. I don't think Kerry would turn the US into Israel where we would be having terror attacks every day. Nor do I think Bush would start the fourth reich. But you find people who actually believe this stuff...it's crazy.
I saw excerpts from Faranheit 911 where some protester says "I'd rather vote for a single celled organism than vote for Bush". What does that say about the value of your vote sir? I realise that's his opinion and he's entitled to vote with his opinion, but what does a choice using that methodology do to our country? Is Bush reallly absolutely the worst possible leader of our country? Is there no one worse to
"Ordinary" games such as first-person-shooters provide this sense of progression to a lesser degree. The more you play the better you get and when you perceive the progress you get your serotonin rush. However, after a while you get tired or hungry, your performance suffers and ends the reward of continued play. MMORPGS are less skill-intensive and continue to reward the player for button-mashing until they can no longer keep their eyes open.
But online ladders provide some "serotonin" feedback for FPS games that are way above the levels you can get for most MMORPG's. Playing for the number one spot in a league like OGL is quite a rush. There isn't any real point where you can know you are the "Number one rat killer" in everquest. Maybe Star wars galaxies has something like this with their new Jedi ranking system...
want to turn on my computer and do things with it. So do most people. A computer is a tool like a car - just because I don't know how to build a transmission doesn't mean I shouldn't drive.
But you realize with your car to change the oil every so often or take it to someone who can. You might even have it winterized every year. You probably buy new tires every few years and even get it washed sometimes.
All that is needed is a basic computer class (ie like getting your drivers licence), an auto-updating virus scanner and adaware type software. I don't think that is much harder than what anyone has to do to own a car.
s far as people guessing their chances at being hit by malicious code... They probably seriously believe that malicious code means that they bring home a disk and put it in their drive and run a program that will be an old-sk00l virus. They have no idea that there are programs out there "spying" on them every minute of their surfing experience. They just don't care enough to know.
I think the everyday user thinks the worst that can happen to him or her is that someone is watching them, or their computer is ruined. Most users don't take their thinking to the next level to reason that someone could take over their computer, and use it to attack another one and if this could be done to a majority of machines on the internet for a few days it would have a negative effect on the economy.
Overall, you can blame Bush for talking about nukes but those ARE the threats most people are worried about even if the odds of them happening are lower, because the stakes are higher. Joe user thinks the worst a virus can do is destroy his computer. Joe user thinks the worst a nuke bomb can do is kill him and everyone he knows. Which one do you expect him to be worried about?
Also, on the nuclear bomb thing, foreign policy experts agree, and have agreed for years that the largest practical terrorist threat to the US is nuclear weapons in the wrong hands. If you don't think it could happen I suggest you check out "Osamas Revenge: THE NEXT 9/11 : What the Media and the Government Haven't Told You" It's a pretty good book, and you can pick it up at amazon.com
This story says that consumers have a casual approach toward cybersecurity and fail to grasp the pervasiveness of online threats, according to a study released Thursday
For all the money they probably pump into cybersecurity, can't they start a nationwide campaign to educate users?
It's Gutsy for him to come out and say it. His statement:
However, what happens is that we strive to include absolutely everything we've ever dreamt of and, in my enthusiasm, I talk about it to anyone who'll listen, mainly in press interviews. When I tell people about what we're planning, I'm telling the truth, and people, of course, expect to see all the features I've mentioned. And when some of the most ambitious ideas get altered, redesigned or even dropped, people rightly want to know what happened to them.
Anyone who has ever developed software for a living knows this is the truth. Early on you spec out cool features, come up with great ideas, etc, etc. Your game/app is going to be the "BEST EVER!"...then somewhere along the way in the development process reality kicks you in the face. Bad features sometimes get added, good ones need to be dropped for technical reasons or time constraints.
The crappy part about it is, usually you only talk to people in your company about an app early on. Or maybe if you are in a small shitty company you talk to the press and no one cares. But the "big name" programmers are expected to deliever on everything they say and then some. It takes a lot of guts for Molyneux to step up and say sorry I couldn't give you everything I said.
CNet has an article up about a Vietnam game where you can ride with Kerry on the swift boat.
The purpose of which is to frag yourself 3 times so you can get out of vietnam.
The executive secretary of the UN Climate Change Convention, Joke Waller-Hunter, said: "President Putin has given an inspiring signal to the international community. By giving industry, local authorities and consumers incentives to take action on climate change, Russia and the 29 other industrialised countries that have joined the protocol will set themselves on a path to greater economic efficiency."
Somehow I can't take a guy named "Joke" as someone that has a serious opinion.
Russia's move means that US business will be cut out of the new carbon trading markets which have already been set up in London. Countries and companies in the scheme have targets to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. If they exceed their targets they will be able to sell the extra carbon "saved" to other countries or companies which have failed to do so. The market is expected to be worth tens of billions of pounds a year.
Good, then maybe the US can stop sending insane amounts of foreign aid to Russia. Just a stop on the 2.8 billion they have gotten from the "Freedom support act" of 2001 would be enough. That money can go twards the US finding alternative fuel sources. YEY!
Will this work with the new leisure suit larrygame?
My karma has dropped significantly since I started posted in Politics, so I'm with you, brother. I've even seen screens informing me that my IP has been banned from posting, either anonymously or through my own account (which oddly enough forces me to post anonymously.)
Same here, where my Karma was excellent before It's gotten killed since the Slashdot poltics section has started and I've been posting in it. I guess you have to expect that if you go against the group think.
It's a shame people can't discuss contrasting views without being modded down. Karma shouldn't apply to the politics section...or to the Java section for that matter!
Failure of Imagination, of course! The current administration had an Agenda the day it hit the oval office,
b lican/features/platform.00/#53 and focus on the 5th and especially 6th paragraphs. Read more and get more scared.)
Granted, but it's not like previous administrations were that much more creative.
and has been executing that Agenda ever since. The 9/11 incident was a speed bump I'm sure, and forced them to invade Afghanistan before they could proceed to their Real military goal. (Take a look at: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/conventions/repu
I'm not too scared, Iran would be the next step in the neo-con playbook, but it seems like bush is distancing himself from them. Iran won't be permitted to have nuclear weapons, if the US doesn't attack Isreal will. The US is about to sell Israel "bunker buster" bombs that could be used in an attack in Iran.
Iraq had been blowing off the UN and weapon inspectors for some time. Even during the Clinton years. The fact is, the members of the UN who voted against taking action in Iraq did so for their own interest. France and Russia were both in on the food for oil scam. China was seeking to limit US power. About the only country I think might have been honestly against the war in Iraq was Germany. It was obvious that Saddam was defying the UN, and action should have been taken. On top of that, even putin admits that Saddam was planning terrorist strikes on the US.
Given that base, "execute plan regardless of facts," and what do you expect. It is a distinctly unimaginative administration - they've got their Agenda, and they're executing it. Incidentally, 9/11 also gave them the pretext and acceptance of "fuller measures" to aid law enforcement, too.
The patriot act applies laws that were already on the books used to fight Drug Dealers and Mafia Members to terrorists. The only difference is politicians won't defend drug dealers or mafia members, but they will defend Terrorists.
The machine called "The US Government" had multiple failures that day. In fact, the only correct, effective response was by passengers. Grounding all air traffic was correct, and might have been effective had there been more jets-as-missiles planned, and did serve to restart air traffic with better security.
And the passengers only found out because their plane was delayed that day. Had it taken off on time, it would have hit the white house (or wherever it was going) around the same time the other planes hit the WTC.
I don't know why nobody ever thought about this scenario pre-9/11 it's been discussed in several books, one of which was by Tom Clancy. Can't the government hire creative people who can sit around and think about how to attack them all day?
Pre-ordering just allows game shops to keep crappier sellection on hand all while providing them with contact info for them to market to you through. If they're going to get your $50 anyway, why give it to them 3 months in advance?
Not to mention that, but for PC games it REALLY sucks. Imagine pre-ordering Half life 2 a year and a month ago thinking it was going to make last septembers release date (or whenever it was around then). The $50 you plop down on a game allows the retailer to make interest on that money before the game comes out. Meanwhile you could be investing that $50 yourself for that 1 year +. The only time pre-ordering makes sense is if you are a really hardcore fan and are getting something extra and need the game the day it releases. On top of that, if you pre-order you basically have to rely on that stores schedule. If they don't get it on the launch day because their shipment fucks up, then you don't get it.
I find I have the best luck just calling around to the stores on the release date to see who has it first then going to get it. Sure it's a pain in the ass, but then I don't have to put money down in advance, and I can get the game at my earliest convience.
This is the Video Game equvilant of abstract art. It's all downhill from here folks!
I really hate the way Sun promotes their versioning. Have you ever tried explaining to someone new to the language that Java 2 is really Java 1.2 or whatever version it was?
JavaNewbie- "Why are we using Java 1.4, hasn't Java 2 been out for a long time"
Me - "AAAAARRRRRG"
Java had all this hype about it when it was promoted nearly a decade ago, but it never got anywhere close to the point where you could walk into your local computer store and buy a major software package that could be run on any platform. I recall that Corel was going to attempt to release a WordPerfect that ran using Java, but that's the most I heard of it being adopted by mainsteam software developers. Does anyone think it will ever take?
The problem becomes what version do you code for? You never really know which version a person has, and sometimes they may not want to upgrade or be technically inclined enough to upgrade. For example, IIRC full screen mode wasn't available prior to 1.4.1 so if you were to code using that class it wouldn't run on an old JVM. I guess you can make it a requirement on boxed software, but if you ask most users what version of Java they have you will get a shrug in return.
Nobody played it; that was the point.
Plenty of people played it.
Half-Life multiplayer is dominated by Day of Defeat, Counterstrike, etc. Back when HL came out, Quake 3 was the big multiplayer thing (until Unreal Tournament came out). Mods are what HL multiplayer is known for.
Hahah, this is so funny. Really, I'm not trying to flame anyone, but do you even know what you are talking about? First off, "Back when Half life came out" was in October of 1998. Unreal tournament AND Quake 3 came out in October/November of *1999*. Half life had a full year with no competition from those games. And your statement that Quake 3 was the big thing until unreal tournament came out makes no sense since UT came out a MONTH earlier than Q3!
This is a non-issue. Modders will easily come up with a "Deathmatch Classic" mod
That is great. Some of us expect certain features out of the box though. Also, while the mod community has proven it can produce great mods (counterstrike), it makes plenty of shit too. Leaving a feature as critical to a FPS as multiplayer to the mod community isn't a good idea. I realize the focus of the original half life was single player, however there are a lot of players like me who are interested in just multiplayer, and buy FPS games only if they have multiplayer.
Valve didn't really have any multi-player in HL either
How does this stuff get modded up? The original Half life *DID* ship with multiplayer deathmatch. and it was pretty fun too.
These spam games are utterly worthless. A friend asked me to play Kings of Chaos which works the same as outwar with her for a little while. She kept telling me "Try it, you will like it". Bascially, the more clicks you get on your link, the larger your "army" growns and you gain more gold. But you can only click the link once a day. Most of the players on there have "buddy click lists" and just sit around clicking each others links all day.
Anyway, to make my army grow, I posted a few links here on slashdot, and also on the USENET. Within a day I had 800 soldiers (clicks) much to the amazment of my friend. I quit playing after that.
Several people here on slashdot said they reported me, but my account was never cancelled, nor was I warned. These games are nothing but spam factories and they have no regard for their users spamming their links all over.
The laws of Physics will change before this game comes out.
Immigration is taking care of this problem, now and for the forseeable future (in the US at any rate).
Not really, Mexico's replacement rate has dropped dramatically in the past 10 years, in another 10-20 years they will be below replacement rate, which means less people immigrating over here. The countries over replacement rate are mostly ones that are unfriendly to us with the exception of India and China.
Interesting ... so just how many Iraqis lives IS an American life worth to you, then? 5,000? 50,000? Would you kill every single Iraqi in the world if it would save one American life?
Just keep telling yourself "they are sub-human, their lives don't count", and you can probably justify any number of deaths. That sort of thinking is how genocides happen.
I knew someone would take the bait, I was suprised it was so many. The comment doesn't reflect my own views, but how Slashdotters ACT like Americans think. Like whenever an American mentions their dead, they say "OMG YEW KILLED 10,000 IRAQIZ THE AMERICANS DEATHS DONT COUNT". The following "slashisms" are total bullshit...
1. Americans are slaughtering innocent Iraqi's. Yes innocent people have likely died in that10,000, but how many of them were terrorists fighting the Americans?
2. Americans don't care about foreigners. Everyone here acts like America is some kind of "Great Satan" and American citizens are these idiotic racist, bigotted SUV driving morons. While everyone here preaches that Judging someone by their nationality is wrong, there is clearly a double standard when it comes to Americans
3. Americans can't talk about crimes against humanity because America does the same things as China, and other lawless regimes. This one is the biggest bunch of bullshit, America has done more for freedom throughout history than ANY other country.