Did anyone else notice the similarity between this and the fantasy physics of the Spelljammer D&D setting?
Specifically, read the paragraph Gravity and Air.
Deathspider FTW!
Have you read the novel? The writer of the screenplay didn't. I'm not being facetious. He had never even heard of the novel when he started writing the screenplay. Even when someone pointed out that the novel and the screenplay shared the general premise of a war between Earth and a race of arthropods, the screenplay writer read just enough to plagiarize the title and a few character names before he got bored.
I could forgive the film or even like it for being a campy "so-bad-it's-good" movie like Dragon Wars or somesuch, but I will never forgive it for pretending to have been inspired by Heinlein's work.
I had to reread the book three times to blot the movie from my mind.
Most people don't have the intellect to read *any* of Asimov's works and make sense of them, let alone the Foundation series.
Some things are best left in print, lest they suffer the same fate as Heinlein's Starship Troopers
I feel that using a keyboard for any sort of game input aside from text is a gigantic step backwards in game interface (not unlike using a number pad for text input, which is arguably not unlike using a joystick for the purpose). I use a joystick in as many PC games as I can, though it invariably requires a lot of fiddling because few games support joystick input at all, and most that do, do so poorly. I usually have to spend an afternoon fine-tuning sensitivity and dead zone for every new game before I can even begin to map out buttons to an optimal configuration. Most games don't have much sense of movement speed (3 speeds: standing still, walking, and running via a modifier key or autorun), so the WASD or arrow keys seem just fine; this actually makes joystick configuration easy because I can map the axes to said keystrokes. The limitation of WASD becomes apparent in games (like most first-person shooters) where sometimes it might be better to tiptoe than to sprint.
I occasionally catch flak about using a joystick, but from people who forgot one thing: I still have two hands and can use a mouse at the same time. For example, in FPS, I use the joystick in my left hand (forward, backward, strafe, fire) and the mouse in my right (aim/look, jump, duck). This actually works well because I can aim with one hand and pull the trigger with the other so I don't jostle my aim with the action of firing. The obvious limitation, however, is the rarity of left-handed or ambidextrous joysticks. I'm a lefty myself, though I've learned to use a mouse in my right hand due to the ubiquitousness of closed-minded righties (not to mention technophobic schoolteachers who were afraid I would "break" the computer by using the mouse in my left hand).
Another advantage of using a joystick over WASD is that it doesn't aggravate my carpal tunnel syndrome. (Yes, I'm aware that joystick use comes with its own set of orthopedic disorders.)
I currently own a Logitech Attack 3, but I plan to upgrade to a Saitek Cyborg EVO, if for no other reason than to have a hat switch. My goal is to see how effectively I can play WoW with joystick and mouse. Wish me luck.
I've run into this kind of thing. Norton Antivirus doesn't like Google Spreadsheets, and when I try to open one it gets picked it up as a "virus threat". Not a virus; a virus threat. Of course, this means I can't balance my checkbook in the office over lunch or using any other computer running Norton. I'm glad I use a Mac at home. (Valiantly attempts to stifle Mac smugness..)
If the major board game publishers jilt you, consider selling your idea to Cheapass Games, the creators of such works of subgenius like Kill Doctor Lucky and Give Me The Brain.
Like I said, my gesture is largely a symbolic protest. I'm perfectly aware of how useless and pointless it is. It's just that in good conscience I cannot vote for any candidate when I think none are qualified, nor can I fail to show up at all.
Here's an option that many people haven't explored: Cast a blank ballot. That's what I did at the last two Presidential elections. Both major parties colluded to practically exclude third parties de facto, if not by de jure in some states, and then post their own little puppets to be voted on. What's worse, I believe that each party knew that some major issue (economy, foreign relations, etc) was going to crap very soon and wanted the other party to take the fall, so they deliberately put up weak candidates.
So, I cast blank ballots. I show up at my polling place (a Baptist church: [sarcasm]a shining beacon of freedom and neutrality[/sarcasm]), show my ID, get my ballot, vote on issues, and leave all spaces for public office blank . This is my small protest against the establishment. I know it may be petty and useless, but no less so than my vote is under the Electoral College anyway.
Not even Quake; it was DOOM with converted graphics. All the weapons ("zorchers") and monsters ("Flemoids") were perfect analogs to Doom. The game was called Chex Quest. I remember a small part of the ad campaign was that it was "non-violent" in that supposedly you didn't actually kill the monsters, you just "zorched" them back to their home dimension, and they didn't kill you, they just made your body armor (composed of dry breakfast cereal) soggy until you could no longer move.
It really wasn't a bad game if you cranked up the difficulty level, and it was amusing to plug the graphics into the standard Doom WADs or vice versa.
I look at it this way: With every gibberish spam I receive, my treasure trove of character names grows! The fictional sender name is great for characters in an alternate-Earth setting like World of Darkness and Shadowrun, and the goofy words in the subject line make for great fantasy names.
It amazes me that the article didn't mention any of the internal struggles that had resounding repercussions felt by every Magic player over the years.
In particular:
* Vague references to an interpersonal conflict that resulted in the masterfece that was Homelands being released in place of Coldsnap, which didn't get developed and released until 10 years later.
* The decision to quit paying artist royalties, which resulted in the loss of many of Magic's best artists, and the abysmal state the card art was in for years as a result. It wasn't art so much as it was merely illustration, and due to restrictive style guidelines, it was often hard to differentiate between one artist and the next.
* The fiasco R&D caused with the incredibly over-powered cards in the Urza block, which (until the Mirrodin block) had more cards hit the banned and restricted list than any other block. Rumor has it that developers actually lost their jobs over it.
The once great and ground-breaking D&D has stagnated for years and has become little more than a cash cow. WotC reengineered it with twinks, rules lawyers, and uncreative players in mind, and the only reason it stays alive in the face of the MMORPG onslaught is because it's as full of obsolete RPG throwbacks as the electronic games are. There's really nothing new in 3 and 3.5 except inflated numbers and better art. THAC0 by any other name is still THAC0, even if the math is a little different. I prefer more modern RPG systems such as GURPS and World of Darkness, but MMORPGs have gutted the market, and D20 eats up what's left, so there really isn't anyone left who plays those systems.
I can certainly commiserate with you, though I cannot offer you any advice aside from "kids: stay in school". I'm in a very similar situation, except there are just enough people in my squadron who transferred from other, more gun-toting branches and specialties, so there is a distinct flavor of military BS along with the corporate. Indeed, my experience in the Air Force is nothing less than an unholy cross between the Dilbert and Beetle Bailey comics, complete with many of the stereotypes in each comic; some individuals even embody a character from each comic.
And yes, I've had my share of Pointy-Haired NCOs in my chain of command.
The whole point of this exercise is so an individual can use Mac OS X for daily
purposes of email, web surfing, and (yes..) office productivity, while spending far
less time dealing with the security, stability, and maintenence nightmare that is
Windows, and yet also have a capable gaming machine IN THE SAME PACKAGE.
Also, do the math: If you were to buy a Mac Mini (a very capable machine, especially
given its "low-end" specs; for the record, mine runs UT2004 beautifully) for daily
use and an Alienware machine for gaming, you would end up spending about the same
range of money as you would on a Macbook Pro and a copy of Windows XP SP2. As a
bonus, by dual-booting the MacBook, you have OS X running on a much more powerful
machine than the Mac Mini, so you also have your graphical design machine as well.
I've always loved platformers, and it's sad that everybody is so stuck on 3D that nobody makes 2D games any more. Game companies tried to translate old platform favorites to 3D, and they failed more often than not. The only 2D-to-3D translation that really took off was Mario 64, and it abandoned some of the best aspects of the Mario series that could have been awesome in a 3D environment (blind charges across stages, mowing down enemies with turtle shells, hopping into giant sewer pipes to see where they go..).
I'm not a pure platform guy; I believe in polyGAMEy. I still get the warm fuzzies (and the cold bumpies) from the original Doom (using Legacy Doom since WinXP hates DOS games and Mac OS has gone through a non-backwards-compatible revision or two since Doom's original release [I own both a Wintel PC and a Mac]). I even get my kicks lobbing pixels of spinny death in Combat or slaying evil square-eating ducks with a yellow arrow in Adventure. I fire up Unreal Tournament from time to time to see what kind of inane mods are popular at the moment; last I looked, Strangelove and bunny tracks (WTF?) were all the rage, though the occasional monster hunt is fun. Tetris is and always has been awesome, as evidenced by the million and one Tetri-clones and knockoffs like Dr Mario.
Overall, I think the best games ever are the ones people continue to hack and mod. Not only does that keep things fresh, it is a testament to the staying power of those games: People like the format and want to continue to play with it. I would merrily play user-created Legend of Zelda dungeons all night if they existed. Can you imagine a LoZ multiplayer deathmatch? I think console game manufacturers need to get off their high horse about PC-based emulators. They could cash in on it a bit if they wanted. They could even go so far as to open-source old games, as they're really not making any money on them any more anyway. Here's to wishing. *lifts can of ez-cheez*
Naw, it would look too much like Warcraft.
I'd like to see a RPG/FPS hybrid, and no, I don't mean putting a lame fantasy skin on an existing engine like Heretic.
Wow. Leave it to the/. crowd to take technical fact and go on a social commentary tangent. *ahem*
Who cares if the CPU in my SuperGeeWhiz Playboxcube3 slices, dices, cures cancer, ends world hunger, and performs at umpteen Ghz as a bonus? Do the games live up to expectation? Do the graphics kick as much arse as they're supposed to?
I'm a geek, but in the end, I could care less about the specific numbers and stats. While I expect no less than photorealistic graphics in the next-gen systems, I also expect them to be at least as much fun as Combat or Adventure (with more replay value, of course).
"Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
We do, we do, weeee dooooo!!"
--The Stonecutters (as if anyone here needs an attribution credit to know that)
The video game crash has already struck for me.
I was born with an Atari 2600 joystick in my hands, but have been a die-hard Nintendo fan since 1985. Unfortunately, Nintendo has been relying on Super Mario, Metroid, and Legend of Zelda for far too long, and now they're in serious trouble. After disappointing droves of Metroid fans by not releasing a kill-the-face-sucking-freak game for the N64, then pissing them all off by making it a lame pseudo-FPS/platformer hybrid on the Gamecube, and making that ridiculous cartoony-looking Zelda game that didn't even feature Link, I don't see them recovering. Seriously, what are they going to do with Mario on their next gen system? Bring back Bob Hoskins?
To be perfectly honest, I have a Gamecube only because my wife likes to play all the colorful multiplayer games (all featuring Mario), and the only reason I bought a PS2 is because a few years ago we had stacks and stacks of PS1 games and worn-out VHS tapes, and neither a Playstation nor a DVD player; I have all of 4 PS2 games and only one I ever play is Atari Anthology, and that's only because my Atari 2600 finally gave up the ghost a couple of years ago (rest in peace, old friend...). And you're never going to get a long-time Microsoft-hater like me to buy an XBOX, even if there were games I was remotely interested in.
The only next-gen system I'm even thinking about right now is the PS3, and they'd better give me a damn good reason to buy one, or I'm not wasting my money. I hope it's at least a better CD and DVD player than the PS2.
I think it's just a sign that PC manufacturers hate having to put Windows on every machine they build as much as many of their customers hate having to pay the Windows Tax in order to acquire a premanufactured machine.
How about Oklahoma roads? This state used to have "the best highway system in the country" (or so it claimed), then the politicians decided "OK, now that we're the best, we can divert the revenue from the toll booths (that we promised to take out when the highways were paid for) to our pork-barrel projects (with the excuse that some of the money will go to education, though it will be pennies if anything), and neglect the highways entirely, because they're the best and will stay that way forever!"
ôôOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma where everything really really suuuucks...ôô
Slashdot Mirror
Did anyone else notice the similarity between this and the fantasy physics of the Spelljammer D&D setting? Specifically, read the paragraph Gravity and Air. Deathspider FTW!
Am I the only one who sees the parallel to The Menagerie?
Have you read the novel? The writer of the screenplay didn't. I'm not being facetious. He had never even heard of the novel when he started writing the screenplay. Even when someone pointed out that the novel and the screenplay shared the general premise of a war between Earth and a race of arthropods, the screenplay writer read just enough to plagiarize the title and a few character names before he got bored. I could forgive the film or even like it for being a campy "so-bad-it's-good" movie like Dragon Wars or somesuch, but I will never forgive it for pretending to have been inspired by Heinlein's work. I had to reread the book three times to blot the movie from my mind.
Most people don't have the intellect to read *any* of Asimov's works and make sense of them, let alone the Foundation series. Some things are best left in print, lest they suffer the same fate as Heinlein's Starship Troopers
Yale University called. They want their fight song back.
I feel that using a keyboard for any sort of game input aside from text is a gigantic step backwards in game interface (not unlike using a number pad for text input, which is arguably not unlike using a joystick for the purpose). I use a joystick in as many PC games as I can, though it invariably requires a lot of fiddling because few games support joystick input at all, and most that do, do so poorly. I usually have to spend an afternoon fine-tuning sensitivity and dead zone for every new game before I can even begin to map out buttons to an optimal configuration. Most games don't have much sense of movement speed (3 speeds: standing still, walking, and running via a modifier key or autorun), so the WASD or arrow keys seem just fine; this actually makes joystick configuration easy because I can map the axes to said keystrokes. The limitation of WASD becomes apparent in games (like most first-person shooters) where sometimes it might be better to tiptoe than to sprint.
I occasionally catch flak about using a joystick, but from people who forgot one thing: I still have two hands and can use a mouse at the same time. For example, in FPS, I use the joystick in my left hand (forward, backward, strafe, fire) and the mouse in my right (aim/look, jump, duck). This actually works well because I can aim with one hand and pull the trigger with the other so I don't jostle my aim with the action of firing. The obvious limitation, however, is the rarity of left-handed or ambidextrous joysticks. I'm a lefty myself, though I've learned to use a mouse in my right hand due to the ubiquitousness of closed-minded righties (not to mention technophobic schoolteachers who were afraid I would "break" the computer by using the mouse in my left hand).
Another advantage of using a joystick over WASD is that it doesn't aggravate my carpal tunnel syndrome. (Yes, I'm aware that joystick use comes with its own set of orthopedic disorders.)
I currently own a Logitech Attack 3, but I plan to upgrade to a Saitek Cyborg EVO, if for no other reason than to have a hat switch. My goal is to see how effectively I can play WoW with joystick and mouse. Wish me luck.
Dear Mr. Lucas, Please quit teasing the sharks. Love, kattphud
I've run into this kind of thing. Norton Antivirus doesn't like Google Spreadsheets, and when I try to open one it gets picked it up as a "virus threat". Not a virus; a virus threat. Of course, this means I can't balance my checkbook in the office over lunch or using any other computer running Norton. I'm glad I use a Mac at home. (Valiantly attempts to stifle Mac smugness..)
If the major board game publishers jilt you, consider selling your idea to Cheapass Games, the creators of such works of subgenius like Kill Doctor Lucky and Give Me The Brain.
Hear! Hear!
C:SotN and Super Metroid are quite possibly the best 2-D side-scrollers evar!
Like I said, my gesture is largely a symbolic protest. I'm perfectly aware of how useless and pointless it is. It's just that in good conscience I cannot vote for any candidate when I think none are qualified, nor can I fail to show up at all.
Here's an option that many people haven't explored: Cast a blank ballot. That's what I did at the last two Presidential elections. Both major parties colluded to practically exclude third parties de facto, if not by de jure in some states, and then post their own little puppets to be voted on. What's worse, I believe that each party knew that some major issue (economy, foreign relations, etc) was going to crap very soon and wanted the other party to take the fall, so they deliberately put up weak candidates.
So, I cast blank ballots. I show up at my polling place (a Baptist church: [sarcasm]a shining beacon of freedom and neutrality[/sarcasm]), show my ID, get my ballot, vote on issues, and leave all spaces for public office blank . This is my small protest against the establishment. I know it may be petty and useless, but no less so than my vote is under the Electoral College anyway.
Not even Quake; it was DOOM with converted graphics. All the weapons ("zorchers") and monsters ("Flemoids") were perfect analogs to Doom. The game was called Chex Quest. I remember a small part of the ad campaign was that it was "non-violent" in that supposedly you didn't actually kill the monsters, you just "zorched" them back to their home dimension, and they didn't kill you, they just made your body armor (composed of dry breakfast cereal) soggy until you could no longer move.
It really wasn't a bad game if you cranked up the difficulty level, and it was amusing to plug the graphics into the standard Doom WADs or vice versa.
I remember the Super Bootspork fondly...
I look at it this way: With every gibberish spam I receive, my treasure trove of character names grows! The fictional sender name is great for characters in an alternate-Earth setting like World of Darkness and Shadowrun, and the goofy words in the subject line make for great fantasy names.
I win.
It amazes me that the article didn't mention any of the internal struggles that had resounding repercussions felt by every Magic player over the years.
In particular:
* Vague references to an interpersonal conflict that resulted in the masterfece that was Homelands being released in place of Coldsnap, which didn't get developed and released until 10 years later.
* The decision to quit paying artist royalties, which resulted in the loss of many of Magic's best artists, and the abysmal state the card art was in for years as a result. It wasn't art so much as it was merely illustration, and due to restrictive style guidelines, it was often hard to differentiate between one artist and the next.
* The fiasco R&D caused with the incredibly over-powered cards in the Urza block, which (until the Mirrodin block) had more cards hit the banned and restricted list than any other block. Rumor has it that developers actually lost their jobs over it.
The once great and ground-breaking D&D has stagnated for years and has become little more than a cash cow. WotC reengineered it with twinks, rules lawyers, and uncreative players in mind, and the only reason it stays alive in the face of the MMORPG onslaught is because it's as full of obsolete RPG throwbacks as the electronic games are. There's really nothing new in 3 and 3.5 except inflated numbers and better art. THAC0 by any other name is still THAC0, even if the math is a little different. I prefer more modern RPG systems such as GURPS and World of Darkness, but MMORPGs have gutted the market, and D20 eats up what's left, so there really isn't anyone left who plays those systems.
I can certainly commiserate with you, though I cannot offer you any advice aside from "kids: stay in school". I'm in a very similar situation, except there are just enough people in my squadron who transferred from other, more gun-toting branches and specialties, so there is a distinct flavor of military BS along with the corporate. Indeed, my experience in the Air Force is nothing less than an unholy cross between the Dilbert and Beetle Bailey comics, complete with many of the stereotypes in each comic; some individuals even embody a character from each comic. And yes, I've had my share of Pointy-Haired NCOs in my chain of command.
The whole point of this exercise is so an individual can use Mac OS X for daily purposes of email, web surfing, and (yes..) office productivity, while spending far less time dealing with the security, stability, and maintenence nightmare that is Windows, and yet also have a capable gaming machine IN THE SAME PACKAGE.
Also, do the math: If you were to buy a Mac Mini (a very capable machine, especially given its "low-end" specs; for the record, mine runs UT2004 beautifully) for daily use and an Alienware machine for gaming, you would end up spending about the same range of money as you would on a Macbook Pro and a copy of Windows XP SP2. As a bonus, by dual-booting the MacBook, you have OS X running on a much more powerful machine than the Mac Mini, so you also have your graphical design machine as well.
If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life Never make a pretty woman your wife So from my personal point of view Get an ugly girl to marry you!
I've always loved platformers, and it's sad that everybody is so stuck on 3D that nobody makes 2D games any more. Game companies tried to translate old platform favorites to 3D, and they failed more often than not. The only 2D-to-3D translation that really took off was Mario 64, and it abandoned some of the best aspects of the Mario series that could have been awesome in a 3D environment (blind charges across stages, mowing down enemies with turtle shells, hopping into giant sewer pipes to see where they go..). I'm not a pure platform guy; I believe in polyGAMEy. I still get the warm fuzzies (and the cold bumpies) from the original Doom (using Legacy Doom since WinXP hates DOS games and Mac OS has gone through a non-backwards-compatible revision or two since Doom's original release [I own both a Wintel PC and a Mac]). I even get my kicks lobbing pixels of spinny death in Combat or slaying evil square-eating ducks with a yellow arrow in Adventure. I fire up Unreal Tournament from time to time to see what kind of inane mods are popular at the moment; last I looked, Strangelove and bunny tracks (WTF?) were all the rage, though the occasional monster hunt is fun. Tetris is and always has been awesome, as evidenced by the million and one Tetri-clones and knockoffs like Dr Mario. Overall, I think the best games ever are the ones people continue to hack and mod. Not only does that keep things fresh, it is a testament to the staying power of those games: People like the format and want to continue to play with it. I would merrily play user-created Legend of Zelda dungeons all night if they existed. Can you imagine a LoZ multiplayer deathmatch? I think console game manufacturers need to get off their high horse about PC-based emulators. They could cash in on it a bit if they wanted. They could even go so far as to open-source old games, as they're really not making any money on them any more anyway. Here's to wishing. *lifts can of ez-cheez*
Naw, it would look too much like Warcraft. I'd like to see a RPG/FPS hybrid, and no, I don't mean putting a lame fantasy skin on an existing engine like Heretic.
Wow. Leave it to the /. crowd to take technical fact and go on a social commentary tangent. *ahem*
Who cares if the CPU in my SuperGeeWhiz Playboxcube3 slices, dices, cures cancer, ends world hunger, and performs at umpteen Ghz as a bonus? Do the games live up to expectation? Do the graphics kick as much arse as they're supposed to?
I'm a geek, but in the end, I could care less about the specific numbers and stats. While I expect no less than photorealistic graphics in the next-gen systems, I also expect them to be at least as much fun as Combat or Adventure (with more replay value, of course).
"Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star? We do, we do, weeee dooooo!!" --The Stonecutters (as if anyone here needs an attribution credit to know that)
The video game crash has already struck for me. I was born with an Atari 2600 joystick in my hands, but have been a die-hard Nintendo fan since 1985. Unfortunately, Nintendo has been relying on Super Mario, Metroid, and Legend of Zelda for far too long, and now they're in serious trouble. After disappointing droves of Metroid fans by not releasing a kill-the-face-sucking-freak game for the N64, then pissing them all off by making it a lame pseudo-FPS/platformer hybrid on the Gamecube, and making that ridiculous cartoony-looking Zelda game that didn't even feature Link, I don't see them recovering. Seriously, what are they going to do with Mario on their next gen system? Bring back Bob Hoskins? To be perfectly honest, I have a Gamecube only because my wife likes to play all the colorful multiplayer games (all featuring Mario), and the only reason I bought a PS2 is because a few years ago we had stacks and stacks of PS1 games and worn-out VHS tapes, and neither a Playstation nor a DVD player; I have all of 4 PS2 games and only one I ever play is Atari Anthology, and that's only because my Atari 2600 finally gave up the ghost a couple of years ago (rest in peace, old friend...). And you're never going to get a long-time Microsoft-hater like me to buy an XBOX, even if there were games I was remotely interested in. The only next-gen system I'm even thinking about right now is the PS3, and they'd better give me a damn good reason to buy one, or I'm not wasting my money. I hope it's at least a better CD and DVD player than the PS2.
I think it's just a sign that PC manufacturers hate having to put Windows on every machine they build as much as many of their customers hate having to pay the Windows Tax in order to acquire a premanufactured machine.
How about Oklahoma roads? This state used to have "the best highway system in the country" (or so it claimed), then the politicians decided "OK, now that we're the best, we can divert the revenue from the toll booths (that we promised to take out when the highways were paid for) to our pork-barrel projects (with the excuse that some of the money will go to education, though it will be pennies if anything), and neglect the highways entirely, because they're the best and will stay that way forever!" ôôOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOklahoma where everything really really suuuucks...ôô