I think the ease of number porting in Australia is an example of the different telecommunication architectures developed in different countries.
Australia has a specific number range dedicated to mobile phones (04XXXX-XXXX). You can't tell where a person is by the number, but since the numbers were originally assigned in arbitrary segments to carriers, you could take a guess what carrier someone was with. Now that number porting has been introduced, a mobile number is exactly that. Not fixed to a location (since it never was) and not fixed to a carrier
Some Australian mobile carriers even allow you to pick your number, charging more for numbers with special digit combinations. but I digress.
The problem with US number portability is that the cell phone number isn't really "portable". It's a hack, because of the lack of foresight in assigning a different area code specifically for cell phones, regardless of carrier or location. To be honest, I don't know any other country that actually uses existing area codes for mobile phones, but then my knowledge of global mobile phone number designations is somewhat limited.
I don't know about you, but I'm somewhat reluctant to spend AU$80- $120 on a single game, let alone shell out 4 times that much. I can buy a decent mobile phone, a PDA or a PC-part upgrade for that amount (, which by my estimates comes to around AU$400)! And for reference, I haven't upgraded any part of my PC for the last 16 months, and I'm saving up to replace my broken mobile. It'll last longer than "Sands of Time" is lasting my cousin ( took him 5 days to get to 50%). I earn a decent living, but my budget allocation for games has never in my life gotten me more than 6 games in an entire year.
On top of that, these days I have a backlog of games to start and finish and limited time to spend on them. What's the point of buying 4+ games (good or otherwise) at once when one game will take up the time I can afford to spend?
I'd say a successful release would be sales from the 100,000+ mark. In a large market of tens of millions of consoles, that's a relatively small percentage. For every person that buys all the top hits over christmas, there might be 6 to 10 others who get one or two arbitrary games at most. The gaming flood that happens over christmas is riding on herd instinct and offering the game when there are the most buyers. This ignores the fact that buyers are there across the year. The key is to find a release date where the competition is relatively absent compared to the number of buyers. Truly good games should leave christmas "to the masses" and focus on being able to find a time when people can more easily find the game.
I'm kind of wondering when people will start collating all the independent observations about game quality, purchasing periods, gamer demographic changes and game development evolution and introduce a unified theory of the video game market. It's long overdue
I don't know. But just so you know, I never said the programmer should be outsourced, just the person who didn't understand basic date/time handling concepts (and that could very well be the pointy haired fellow;). I used the term 'outsourcing' very loosely and possibly somewhat in a sarcastic fashion in my original comment.
What are the first three(3) things you think of when you have to handle a date in a system? for me it's:
What platform(s) am I running on? This answer determines what I have to work with, what the underlying OS takes care of for me and what I need to do for myself. Things like the maximum date recognizable (Y2K is an extension of this), Date Formatting (internationalization), how a date is stored.
What is the effect of date variations ? Variations are things like setting the clock back, leap years, duration calculations, crossing the 24:00-00:00 boundary.
How critical is getting the date right?
Scheduling systems need accurate dates and times. FSA'a often don't care about date, but usually more about time.
Would you forget about leap years designing an atomic clock? How about a simple calendar for your palmtop?
That's a fair call. But what you're giving is still just an excuse for poor programming. I know first hand as well that things get rushed. In your example, It'd hopefully be the manager being held to account since he's the one responsible for the programmer.
Getting the right date and having enough space are two very common issues that programmers have to deal with. If this was some obscure button press or recording combination error, then I'd be "yeah.. that's not entirely the developers' fault", but when it comes to not recognizing a date, I find it just that bit harder to be sympathetic.
That's just piss poor programming. Honestly, If you can't figure out that knowing about and handling leap years is important in software that schedules, then maybe outsourcing your position is fitting...
I recall I had a whole discussion with my friends about whether 2000 had a leap year. Most of those who got it wrong weren't the most computer literate, but it took about 5 minutes to figure it out from the internet.
It's needless bugs like this, which give programmers a bad name.
um.. who exactly monitors the police? The duty of care in that respect is placed on the government. And (un)fortunately, I'd trust the police to manage themselves better than I'd trust the politicians and other governmental employees. A cop deals with people every day. They deal with ethical issues every day. I'd be much more worried about some bureacratic brown-noser who sits behind a desk allo day, getting access to what the cops use in their every day dutues in order to discredit and dissuade opposing voices.
Information is Power and Power Corrupts, so having giving more information to those in power isn't necessarily the best thing to do.
How were you expecting to get the image into photoshop in the first place, hmmm? draw it yourself?:)
News broadcast: a man was caught trying to pass off counterfeit $20 bills at the candy store. The store owner got suspicious when he noticed none of the colours stayed within the lines. When questioned, he responded: "I guess I feathered my alpha mask too much."
On the topic of strange tracks...
on
Friday Apple Fun
·
· Score: 1
This reminds me of my soundtrack CD "Songs in the key of X". A really good mixture of dark tunes. If you read the insert, there are a couple of things that appear extra-ordinary.
For starters, it actually states that it doesn't adhere to the standard red-book CD audio format (I forget what is said exactly). That alone should have you thinking "why on earth not?".
And then somewhere else in really small print: "Nick Cave and the [evil three] would like to remind that you that 0 is also a number"
It took me 2 different CD players (no CD-ROM's I know of rewind into negative numbers) and about 1/2 an hour to figure out that there's about 8 minutes and 33 seconds (or thereabouts) of audio before track one! It was a rather interesting track as well. I never managed to get it recorded to my computer, since it doesn't technically exist...
I can't really say what works for you, but I'll give you what works for me.
I got a Toshiba 5200 for my birthday last july and it's the first laptop I've had which has been my primary work tool as a programmer. I take it to work, plug it in and take it home at the end of the day (for extra security, since equipment has a habit of "going missing" at work).
The first thing i did was use a second power cable (with the figure 8 connector) to keep at work (tethered to the physical desktop for easy reaching). That way all I have to do is plug my battery pack into the cable and I can keep my power cable in the bag and only unravel when it's needed.
That brings me to the bag. As I have a large 15.1" laptop screen (for the time), it took me literally a dozen bag tests to find one that even fit the bloody thing. I went for an STM Alley bag bag. But there are a lots of good ones out there. A good bag with good compartments can save your day and make carrying the laptop more than a burden!
In the front pouch of my bag, I have:
a crossover cable (has proven its worth many a time)
a kensington key-based security cable (have used it once.)
A/V out cable (came with the laptop. also comes in handy for presentations and shows)
a usb memory key ( 128MB USB 2.0). invaluable for when a network's not available. High speed helps as well.
Oddly enough, I don't have a mouse in my bag. I'm one of those people who like using the touchpad.:) I use a mouse at work, but I leave it there (again tethered to the desk...)
I recently got a mini-pci wireless card for my laptop. It's very useful on the road, but not so much if you don't have a wireless network to plug into. I still prefer wired if available, because of latency and performance issues.
I'm considering getting a second battery. But it's not an urgent requirement as Toshiba is usually pretty good with spare parts availability. Getting access to available parts is an entirely different manner. it'll be more relevant further down the track.
I'm quite happy with my setup. There's nothing I miss or terribly need. But it all depends on what you want to do with it. How often do you plug stuff into/ out of your laptop?
.. have you ever played DragonBall Z: Budokai on the PS2? that game has to have the SLOWEST loading time for any game I've ever come across (even longer than Halo between levels, which at the very least is justifiable).
While I'd agree that the graphics capabilities of the different consoles are mostly equivalent, I'd say the graphics quality differs between games because of the developers. Some are too lazy or unwilling to tune the graphics for a specific platform and so they go for the most generic (and least performing) code. I recall Sony noted this about PS2 games recently. Others just don't know how to get the most out of the system. That's not so much a developers competency issue, as it is one of development ease.
If a certain type of 4D pixel shader takes 3 days to write on one console and 3 weeks to write on another, there's not much chance that anyone's going to bother recoding a game feature for the latter console.
Doesn't this assume that the contract's been signed? From what this guy's saying he hasn't signed the contract yet. I can't really see how contract negotiation would be forced by a judge, if there's no prior agreement. But then, IANAL...
from what you're saying though, if he (through his lawyer) puts in a clause for his own interest, and the company signs it, they'd have a hard time circumventing it.
So let me get this straight. Just to install a small freeware program which does something maybe slightly entertaining (hopefully greatly entertaining of course), you want the me to install an entire scripting engine along with it, just to get it installed? That doesn't make sense to me.
a quote from their readme.txt: The packed python22.dll adds less than 400k to the installer
executable. One disadvantage stays so far: dependecy have to
be tracked manually. If an extension module is used (py or pyd)
it must be packed in the installer.
that seems like a fair bit; or am I just misjudging the size of the scripting engine?
Using python scripting for python programs, that makes sense, though.
The Nokia PC suite's good in terms of functionality. A fair few of my friends have it and use it to full effect with an IR connection. However it didn't cooperate too well with VB apps on my winXP Laptop. It crashed my explorer a lot (as VB apps do fairly frequently;)
I tried uninstalling it and it killed my VB runtimes. It was a major effort getting it out my my tasktray, I can tell you that!
I'm a siemens man though. Siemens also has software which can sync. But I tend not to have a need to sync, when it comes to address books and calendars.
I doubt anyone's mentioned this, but this article is a very good piece of journalism IMO.
It's absent of sarcastic comments (questioning != sarcastic, mind you), It doesn't just relate a single person story, but counter points both sides with insight and (most importantly) balance.
If only more journo's did this kind of quality stuff...*cough*slashdot*cough*;)
I've read all the theories on control, and the lack of security. But let me put my own spin on the whole opaque/transparent(as in swiss-cheese transparent)...
Maybe the reason they want it to be secure is to entrap those people who might want to influence the elections from abroad. Make a system look easy to manipulate and you'll find that people will try and manipulate it. I shudder to think how much counter-surveillance goes on, with the aid of these "unsafe" systems.
It very much depends on the quality of the IT executives and their willingness to absorb constructive criticisms and observations. It also depends of course on how well you "package" the bad news you might want to spread.
There's the usual "ill news is an ill guest" concern, but I believe for a company to properly progress problems should be put on display for executive analysis. Isn't it their jobs to be fixing the kinds of issues that crop up when IT can't quite do its job?
Having worked at a family company (and being part of the family), there's always a certain amount of leeway I get, when I need to bring up issues in the company. But being a younger family member, the only reason I get listened to is because I try and give an fair, honest and balanced (no relation to Fox news "balanced") response to issues that arise.
No company is without problems. But a good executive shows his quality by listening to his employees when they say something important.
what's the other evil? if the problem involves IT, then the solution may involve changes to your work environment, which might be less than appealling. different responsabilities; lower budget; no job..
I'd say if the matter is important enough, but it directly affects you, then it's a choice between the company's best interests and your best interests.
Yes. Invade the teacher's privacy, because they tried to conduct a class in a manner you do not agree with. That will certainly affect how the class is taught, when in a majority of the cases, the teacher follows the rules and doesn't set them.
While I'd prefer an open classroom where everyone has the freedom to perform a task with the tools they can acquire, I also have to sympathize with the teacher, who has to teach and mark in an even-handed manner, without necessarily prejudicing either the technically gifted or the technically challenged.
I'd suggest to the poster to ask the teacher if he (not the teacher) can give a half or whole class session on the software he was using, so that others can know that there is always an alternative software available for those who are willing and able to use it. Planting that seed of knowledge is worth more than any immediate restriction in knowledge.
They've brought out some really baaaaaad stuff, that I've had the misfortune of playing (and the fortune of never owning).
Most of their games I've seen look like they've been done by a mediocre programmer using clik n play, with a guy behind him telling him where to click. Nothing they can do to the Miami Vice licence is going to make me crave Tommy Versetti's bike trips any less...
In the case of Miami Vice it's Colombians mainly, IIRC. Middle America gets featured heavily, as does an alligator. Of course you'd get PETA on your arse if you had any alligator assaults in a game like Miami Vice before any Colombian groups would even be aware they're being shot at with a gatling gun. LOL
(I'd blame mondayitis, but it's tuesday...)
I have to agree.. I went through literally a dozen different brands and models before I found an STM bag which fit my laptop (a toshiba 5200) PERFECTLY>. and I mean that!
I've got the Alley shoulder bag, and having used postman style bags for most of my life, I must admit that this is definately one of the best designs.
It's always better to go for a bag, which doesn't attract unwanted attention. and STM bags are definately suited to that. I carry heaps of stuff in it as well:
3-4 CD's in the front,
spare power cable (I have a fixed one at work) with the small power supply.
1.8m crossover cable,
laptop security lock (for those less-than-safe workplaces...)
uh.. *looks through the bag* hey I have earphones in here!
...and audio cables!
well.. obviously it holds a lot of stuff, but I don't even notice it.. perfect compartmentalization. and the padded bottom is the best! the mobile spot is good as well.
"One has to wonder, though, about the potential ramifications of having dangerous predators exposed to this brain-wasting illness, and what type of 'unusual behavior' they'll start to exhibit."
Not to go overboard, but just to prove this isn't a recent phenomenon, I'll give a mention to the 7th Guest. the best example of how MIDI music should be used in a game... thinking back it STILL gives me chills. And it's the reason I know who the Fat Man is.
Music crosses all boundaries of gaming arenas.From console to PC to handheld, good music, whether it be in your face or soothingly ambient, is, without a doubt, the most critical non-critical part of any game.
Are there any great games whose music is forgettable? most of the great ones have been mentioned, but you can't single out any single game as the best. The best sound track provides a unique sound to the game and separates it from others in its genre, while immersing the player into the world that the game is set in.
Some instant examples (some involving licensing) that come to mind
Playstation 2: GTA3: Vice City
Although the principle has evolved from the GTA line of games, it's the pinnacle of in-game sound-track licensing. The makers didn't just license the sounds, they fully integrated the music into each station, categorizing it, making it real by adding all the little intermezzo's of speech to include the player and the game world into what you hear. I still crack a smirk when I hear the leader of bikers gang lamenting the quality of the music on VROCK.:)
PC: Homeworld
The band composed part of the sound track specially for this game and it's so much the better for it. This is a case where quality professional music makers enhance the atmosphere of the game, by giving it the ambience so needed. Space never sounded more melodic, or dramatic! Morrowind has been done along the same lines (just check the music credits), but it's final execution went along a different path. The fact that my Morrowind Theme is the "Bridge to Kasach Doom" (forgive the misspelling), should indicate the flexibility of the sound system. They made a start, but the entire game design was to allow for the player to immerse themself. want to start a fight to rock music? plop in an MP3 into "\Data Files\Music\Battle" and you're off!:)
XBox: Halo
Another prime example where the music helps dictate the atmosphere. Live mixing of tracks is essential to changing the mood, and when you're running (or driving, or flying, or being chased) from battlezone to battlezone, the music is queued perfectly put you on your guard or soothe you into a lull before the storm (*ehem* flood) is unleashed.
GC: LoZ: The Wind Waker
The Zelda series has always had an in-game link to music. Instruments and songs have played an integral part in all zelda games and tWW pushes zelda to the forefront of music integration and ambience. Having played a few zelda games (and learnt one or two top 40 Ocarina tunes along the way:), tWW is by the best incarnation in music terms. along the lines of GTA3:VC in its integration and excellent use of music.
I've gone a bit off-topic here (and I didn't RTFA, admittedly), but I hoped I've stressed the importance of good music in order to have a great game. There's a reason I have Tetris Tune #3 as my ringtone.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Australia has a specific number range dedicated to mobile phones (04XXXX-XXXX). You can't tell where a person is by the number, but since the numbers were originally assigned in arbitrary segments to carriers, you could take a guess what carrier someone was with. Now that number porting has been introduced, a mobile number is exactly that. Not fixed to a location (since it never was) and not fixed to a carrier
Some Australian mobile carriers even allow you to pick your number, charging more for numbers with special digit combinations. but I digress.
The problem with US number portability is that the cell phone number isn't really "portable". It's a hack, because of the lack of foresight in assigning a different area code specifically for cell phones, regardless of carrier or location. To be honest, I don't know any other country that actually uses existing area codes for mobile phones, but then my knowledge of global mobile phone number designations is somewhat limited.
On top of that, these days I have a backlog of games to start and finish and limited time to spend on them. What's the point of buying 4+ games (good or otherwise) at once when one game will take up the time I can afford to spend?
I'd say a successful release would be sales from the 100,000+ mark. In a large market of tens of millions of consoles, that's a relatively small percentage. For every person that buys all the top hits over christmas, there might be 6 to 10 others who get one or two arbitrary games at most. The gaming flood that happens over christmas is riding on herd instinct and offering the game when there are the most buyers. This ignores the fact that buyers are there across the year. The key is to find a release date where the competition is relatively absent compared to the number of buyers. Truly good games should leave christmas "to the masses" and focus on being able to find a time when people can more easily find the game.
I'm kind of wondering when people will start collating all the independent observations about game quality, purchasing periods, gamer demographic changes and game development evolution and introduce a unified theory of the video game market. It's long overdue
What are the first three(3) things you think of when you have to handle a date in a system? for me it's:
- What platform(s) am I running on?
- What is the effect of date variations ?
- How critical is getting the date right?
Would you forget about leap years designing an atomic clock? How about a simple calendar for your palmtop?This answer determines what I have to work with, what the underlying OS takes care of for me and what I need to do for myself. Things like the maximum date recognizable (Y2K is an extension of this), Date Formatting (internationalization), how a date is stored.
Variations are things like setting the clock back, leap years, duration calculations, crossing the 24:00-00:00 boundary.
Scheduling systems need accurate dates and times. FSA'a often don't care about date, but usually more about time.
Getting the right date and having enough space are two very common issues that programmers have to deal with. If this was some obscure button press or recording combination error, then I'd be "yeah.. that's not entirely the developers' fault", but when it comes to not recognizing a date, I find it just that bit harder to be sympathetic.
I recall I had a whole discussion with my friends about whether 2000 had a leap year. Most of those who got it wrong weren't the most computer literate, but it took about 5 minutes to figure it out from the internet.
It's needless bugs like this, which give programmers a bad name.
um.. who exactly monitors the police? The duty of care in that respect is placed on the government. And (un)fortunately, I'd trust the police to manage themselves better than I'd trust the politicians and other governmental employees. A cop deals with people every day. They deal with ethical issues every day. I'd be much more worried about some bureacratic brown-noser who sits behind a desk allo day, getting access to what the cops use in their every day dutues in order to discredit and dissuade opposing voices.
Information is Power and Power Corrupts, so having giving more information to those in power isn't necessarily the best thing to do.
that's a shame.. I hope that they made it optional at least! I want to make my robosapiens scare the crap out of my housemate when he gets home! :)
News broadcast: a man was caught trying to pass off counterfeit $20 bills at the candy store. The store owner got suspicious when he noticed none of the colours stayed within the lines. When questioned, he responded: "I guess I feathered my alpha mask too much."
For starters, it actually states that it doesn't adhere to the standard red-book CD audio format (I forget what is said exactly). That alone should have you thinking "why on earth not?".
And then somewhere else in really small print: "Nick Cave and the [evil three] would like to remind that you that 0 is also a number"
It took me 2 different CD players (no CD-ROM's I know of rewind into negative numbers) and about 1/2 an hour to figure out that there's about 8 minutes and 33 seconds (or thereabouts) of audio before track one! It was a rather interesting track as well. I never managed to get it recorded to my computer, since it doesn't technically exist...
I'd pay good money to get that track on iTunes!
I got a Toshiba 5200 for my birthday last july and it's the first laptop I've had which has been my primary work tool as a programmer. I take it to work, plug it in and take it home at the end of the day (for extra security, since equipment has a habit of "going missing" at work).
The first thing i did was use a second power cable (with the figure 8 connector) to keep at work (tethered to the physical desktop for easy reaching). That way all I have to do is plug my battery pack into the cable and I can keep my power cable in the bag and only unravel when it's needed.
That brings me to the bag. As I have a large 15.1" laptop screen (for the time), it took me literally a dozen bag tests to find one that even fit the bloody thing. I went for an STM Alley bag bag. But there are a lots of good ones out there. A good bag with good compartments can save your day and make carrying the laptop more than a burden!
In the front pouch of my bag, I have:
- a crossover cable (has proven its worth many a time)
- a kensington key-based security cable (have used it once.)
- A/V out cable (came with the laptop. also comes in handy for presentations and shows)
- a usb memory key ( 128MB USB 2.0). invaluable for when a network's not available. High speed helps as well.
Oddly enough, I don't have a mouse in my bag. I'm one of those people who like using the touchpad.I recently got a mini-pci wireless card for my laptop. It's very useful on the road, but not so much if you don't have a wireless network to plug into. I still prefer wired if available, because of latency and performance issues.
I'm considering getting a second battery. But it's not an urgent requirement as Toshiba is usually pretty good with spare parts availability. Getting access to available parts is an entirely different manner. it'll be more relevant further down the track.
I'm quite happy with my setup. There's nothing I miss or terribly need. But it all depends on what you want to do with it. How often do you plug stuff into/ out of your laptop?
While I'd agree that the graphics capabilities of the different consoles are mostly equivalent, I'd say the graphics quality differs between games because of the developers.
Some are too lazy or unwilling to tune the graphics for a specific platform and so they go for the most generic (and least performing) code. I recall Sony noted this about PS2 games recently. Others just don't know how to get the most out of the system. That's not so much a developers competency issue, as it is one of development ease.
If a certain type of 4D pixel shader takes 3 days to write on one console and 3 weeks to write on another, there's not much chance that anyone's going to bother recoding a game feature for the latter console.
from what you're saying though, if he (through his lawyer) puts in a clause for his own interest, and the company signs it, they'd have a hard time circumventing it.
a quote from their readme.txt:
The packed python22.dll adds less than 400k to the installer executable. One disadvantage stays so far: dependecy have to be tracked manually. If an extension module is used (py or pyd) it must be packed in the installer.
that seems like a fair bit; or am I just misjudging the size of the scripting engine? Using python scripting for python programs, that makes sense, though.
I tried uninstalling it and it killed my VB runtimes. It was a major effort getting it out my my tasktray, I can tell you that!
I'm a siemens man though. Siemens also has software which can sync. But I tend not to have a need to sync, when it comes to address books and calendars.
It's absent of sarcastic comments (questioning != sarcastic, mind you), It doesn't just relate a single person story, but counter points both sides with insight and (most importantly) balance.
If only more journo's did this kind of quality stuff...*cough*slashdot*cough* ;)
Maybe the reason they want it to be secure is to entrap those people who might want to influence the elections from abroad. Make a system look easy to manipulate and you'll find that people will try and manipulate it. I shudder to think how much counter-surveillance goes on, with the aid of these "unsafe" systems.
of course... I could just be paranoid. ;)
There's the usual "ill news is an ill guest" concern, but I believe for a company to properly progress problems should be put on display for executive analysis. Isn't it their jobs to be fixing the kinds of issues that crop up when IT can't quite do its job?
Having worked at a family company (and being part of the family), there's always a certain amount of leeway I get, when I need to bring up issues in the company. But being a younger family member, the only reason I get listened to is because I try and give an fair, honest and balanced (no relation to Fox news "balanced") response to issues that arise.
No company is without problems. But a good executive shows his quality by listening to his employees when they say something important.
what's the other evil? if the problem involves IT, then the solution may involve changes to your work environment, which might be less than appealling. different responsabilities; lower budget; no job..
I'd say if the matter is important enough, but it directly affects you, then it's a choice between the company's best interests and your best interests.
While I'd prefer an open classroom where everyone has the freedom to perform a task with the tools they can acquire, I also have to sympathize with the teacher, who has to teach and mark in an even-handed manner, without necessarily prejudicing either the technically gifted or the technically challenged.
I'd suggest to the poster to ask the teacher if he (not the teacher) can give a half or whole class session on the software he was using, so that others can know that there is always an alternative software available for those who are willing and able to use it. Planting that seed of knowledge is worth more than any immediate restriction in knowledge.
ah wait. I bought it in 2002. Sorry about the confusion; I was playing it just yesterday... ;)
They've brought out some really baaaaaad stuff, that I've had the misfortune of playing (and the fortune of never owning).
Most of their games I've seen look like they've been done by a mediocre programmer using clik n play, with a guy behind him telling him where to click. Nothing they can do to the Miami Vice licence is going to make me crave Tommy Versetti's bike trips any less...
In the case of Miami Vice it's Colombians mainly, IIRC. Middle America gets featured heavily, as does an alligator. Of course you'd get PETA on your arse if you had any alligator assaults in a game like Miami Vice before any Colombian groups would even be aware they're being shot at with a gatling gun. LOL
(I'd blame mondayitis, but it's tuesday...)
I've got the Alley shoulder bag, and having used postman style bags for most of my life, I must admit that this is definately one of the best designs.
It's always better to go for a bag, which doesn't attract unwanted attention. and STM bags are definately suited to that. I carry heaps of stuff in it as well:
- 3-4 CD's in the front,
- spare power cable (I have a fixed one at work) with the small power supply.
- 1.8m crossover cable,
- laptop security lock (for those less-than-safe workplaces...)
- uh.. *looks through the bag* hey I have earphones in here!
...and audio cables!
well.. obviously it holds a lot of stuff, but I don't even notice it.. perfect compartmentalization. and the padded bottom is the best! the mobile spot is good as well.Can you tell I love my bag? :)
"One has to wonder, though, about the potential ramifications of having dangerous predators exposed to this brain-wasting illness, and what type of 'unusual behavior' they'll start to exhibit."
was.. WEREWOLVES! Run for the hills! ;)
Not to go overboard, but just to prove this isn't a recent phenomenon, I'll give a mention to the 7th Guest. the best example of how MIDI music should be used in a game... thinking back it STILL gives me chills.
And it's the reason I know who the Fat Man is.
Are there any great games whose music is forgettable? most of the great ones have been mentioned, but you can't single out any single game as the best. The best sound track provides a unique sound to the game and separates it from others in its genre, while immersing the player into the world that the game is set in.
Some instant examples (some involving licensing) that come to mind
Although the principle has evolved from the GTA line of games, it's the pinnacle of in-game sound-track licensing. The makers didn't just license the sounds, they fully integrated the music into each station, categorizing it, making it real by adding all the little intermezzo's of speech to include the player and the game world into what you hear. I still crack a smirk when I hear the leader of bikers gang lamenting the quality of the music on VROCK.
The band composed part of the sound track specially for this game and it's so much the better for it. This is a case where quality professional music makers enhance the atmosphere of the game, by giving it the ambience so needed. Space never sounded more melodic, or dramatic!
Morrowind has been done along the same lines (just check the music credits), but it's final execution went along a different path. The fact that my Morrowind Theme is the "Bridge to Kasach Doom" (forgive the misspelling), should indicate the flexibility of the sound system. They made a start, but the entire game design was to allow for the player to immerse themself. want to start a fight to rock music? plop in an MP3 into "\Data Files\Music\Battle" and you're off!
Another prime example where the music helps dictate the atmosphere. Live mixing of tracks is essential to changing the mood, and when you're running (or driving, or flying, or being chased) from battlezone to battlezone, the music is queued perfectly put you on your guard or soothe you into a lull before the storm (*ehem* flood) is unleashed.
The Zelda series has always had an in-game link to music. Instruments and songs have played an integral part in all zelda games and tWW pushes zelda to the forefront of music integration and ambience. Having played a few zelda games (and learnt one or two top 40 Ocarina tunes along the way
I've gone a bit off-topic here (and I didn't RTFA, admittedly), but I hoped I've stressed the importance of good music in order to have a great game. There's a reason I have Tetris Tune #3 as my ringtone. :)