"Now, two incomes is required to maintain the same standard of living that our grandparents had."
My grandfather didn't get shoes until he was about 10. He also had to shoot his own meat (usually squirrel) and pick up the shell casings so he could repack the bullets. Neither grandparent had a car until they were well in their 20s and they didn't own a house until they were in their early 30s. Most families I see with two incomes are spending the greater portion of that 2nd income on luxuries that were not available to my grandparents (cable/satellite TV, multiple cars, a whole array of electronics, restaurants, etc). I think that if you really went back to the standards of living my grandparents had, you could live comfortably off of one income.
"How articulate are avid successful gamers? Well, judging by blogs and forums and reader responses of all types posted on the web, I would have to say the communication skills are not generally very high."
You know I just don't see blogs, forums, and reader responses from kiddies pretending to be l33t as a clear indicator of the communication skills of successful gamers.
While I do agree that good game players *might* make pitiful reviewers, there are probably quite a few that could be good reviewers. Gaming and reviewing can be seen as two completely different jobs in related fields. Some people will be good at both while some will not.
Take the example of sports boradcasters. Some people are good sports announcers but not good athletes (ex. Gumbel). Some are good athletes but are terrible broadcasters (ex. Deion Sanders, who obviously can't read very well). Then there are the people who are good at both (ex. Howie).
I remember when Starbuck was charged with robbing the Bank of Hanoi when he really didn't. That was sad how he had to go on the run with his two fellow accusants. And then when they had to spring their friend out of the mental institution all the time...
I'm not too familiar with the unreal engine, but is there a way for the end-user to integrate the mods and graphics packages into the Linux unreal engine? Is there some code in the mod that is not cross-platform? How much liberty was taken with the engine? Will the developers for the R6 game (RedStorm?) answer your question?
Other than those considerations, the only other reason I can think of is lack of interest on the game developer's part. They see $"cost to do QA testing on Linux version" > $"loss from Linux-only gamers". That may be true or it may not be true. The only way for them to be sure is for the gamers to take your advice and send an e-mail or phone call or letter to the game developer and encourage them to create games for your OS (and maybe even point out how easy this could be in the R6 example).
I very much disagree. The games Linux gamers want to play by and large are not available on Linux. With wine and cedega, at least some of those games are available. Why keep around a Windows partition if you're happy with 70% performance? What added incentive do game developers have to develop native Linux games if you're just going to keep your native Windows partition around anyways?
I say we support the emulation efforts. Through the support of a strong community, the emulation quality and performance will improve. The more the quality of emulation improves, the less likely gamers are to keep that Windows parition around. If enough gamers drop their Windows partition, then game developers will begin to be penalized financially for not writing code that is compatible with the emulators. When that happens, game developers will look at Linux as a viable platform to support, initially in emulation and perhaps eventually as a native platform.
I think a bigger factor in Sega's rush to the market was their last-minute decision to change the graphics processor. That threw developers for a loop because now the system was 10 times harder to develop for. The Atari Jaguar suffered a similar fate at the hands of programming difficulty. The Playstation on the other hand was based on the MIPS architecture which is taught in most CS and CE degree programs so a lot of programmers were already at least somewhat familiar with it.
Funny, I think of him as Wil Wheaton the kid who was in the movie with River Pheonix, Corey Feldman, and the Sliders kid who used to be fat but isn't anymore. And just so you know, he got his start long before ST:TNG.
I am interested in reading what he has to say about classic video games.
You need to check a few dates. 60-70 year olds were not involved with World War II. A 70 year old would be 11 at the oldest by the end of WWII (1939-1945). A 70 year old would be 18 at the end of the Korean War so it is possible that they could've been involved with that (1950-1953). A 60 to 70 year old would be a prime target for involvement in the Vietnam War (usually considered 1962-1972). For the most part, 60 to 70 year olds are also not involved with Iraq (aside from a VP and maybe a few high ranking military personnel), but I imagine that your generation (making assumption based on working retail means you're at least 15 and I get the impression that those involved in Vietnam are at least two generations removed from you because you've lumped them in with Korea and WWII) is very involved with Iraq though you could possibly be a year or two shy of being able to participate yourself.
Keep in mind that the only reason I'm picking on you here is that I think your first and second paragraph have a lot of good points in them and I'd hate to see a good argument ruined by a bit of ignorance in your 3rd paragraph.
$7 billion being spent on games nowadays but adventure games and some other long-forgotten genres are still all but extinct? With all this money being spent on gaming, it seems like a development house about the size Sierra was in its heyday could still carve out a respectable (but not glamorous) living.
Lack of decent bandwidth and latency issues are costing wireless plans billions. WiFi's not the best thing on earth, but it sure beats the wireless broadband provided by Verizon. That money didn't belong to wireless providers to begin with. Another alternative could be that lack of hotspots costing WiFi programs billions since users are stuck with wireless in that case.
It will be interesting if EA can manage to get exclusive rights to team names and logos.
So here's how I see it...
on
SBC Might Buy AT&T
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Step 1: Reuinite the Bells
Step 2: Use uber resources to roll out fiber (which they apparently don't have to share like their copper)
Step 3: Regain monopoly
...would be the parents monitor what software little Johnny is installing on the computer and to ask what that software does (with demonstration of course). I know if I see icons pop up on the family computer desktop or start menu, I tend to ask the family who installed it and what it does.
Because there's a lot more to coaching than play-calling. You wouldn't have to understand everything that makes a great coach. You would just have to be able to track the statistical likelihood of calling certain plays based on how those coaches called them in different situations. For example, on 3rd and 10 on the opponent's 17 yard line with no timeouts left and very little time on the clock in the 4th quarter you'd expect a pass. 95% of all NFL coaches will call a pass there, but Bill Parcells called a run and got a 17 yard TD off of it this year (Dallas v. Seattle). Very few coaches would've made that call there, but Parcells will do that kind of thing from time to time. Likewise, Dan Reeves had a big tendency to go for 4th and 1 early in the game to "establish the running game." Just because I know these things doesn't mean I have a good shot at a career in coaching but it doesn mean that I could put those traits into an AI given the opportunity.
I said I "SIGN MY NAME and then put ASK FOR ID next to it." I did sign it and therefore it is usable. I just happen to write my t (last letter in my last name) like this:
"t ASK FOR ID"
You do not have to ask for id just because it says to on the card, but every credit card merchant account agreement I've ever been part of (as a tech consultant for several clothing stores) states that we must verify that the signture on the back of the card matches the one on the receipt and/or check for proper identification. It might not be store policy, but the store did agree to do either check the signature or id and as a consumer, I'd like to do all I can to ensure that the store lives up to their part of the bargain.
I sign my name and then put ASK FOR ID next to it. Interestingly enough, I was in London on vacation back in 2000. I had one shop (or is it a "shoppe" over there?) request that I write out ASK FOR ID next to my signature so it matched what was on the card. Are the credit card companies just stricter over there or something?
I had a friend in college whose dad opened up a credit card account in my friend's name, charged it up, and let it default. My friend talked to legal services on campus (I'm not sure how good our campus legal services is but our law school is pretty good for a public school). They basically told him that he sould either pay it off or claim fraud and let the credit card company haul his dad off to jail. I can't imaging putting my child in that situation. He asked me what he should do but I didn't know what to tell him. That's a pretty sorry situation for a relative to put you in, especially your own father.
I think a more important step would be to get Cowher to not panic when falling behind. It seems like every time they trail an opponent, the Steelers go back to their blitzing ways (and I'm not talking about the 4-man pseudo-blitz that is the product of a 3-4 defense). He also used to abandon the run as soon as he fell behind by even the smallest margin but now he's moved to sticking with the run when it should be abandoned (ex. defense stacking the box every down). I don't know which one is worse but neither is a good thing. I think Cowher has the potential to be a multiple Super Bowl winner but he's still on my list of "Coaches who Will Never Win a Super Bowl" (along with such favorites as Martz, Reid, and Dennis Green) until he straightens out a few things in his coaching strategy.
I've had similar issues with every NFL game I've ever played. The coaching doesn't get any better until you're playing an opponent that is twice as talented as they should be. Most games do not accurately differenciate between Intellegence (smarts) and Ability (relative strength). I would love to see a Madden game where I can keep the opponent's ability even with my own, but play a really smart AI coach. Even better would be a Madden game where there are patterns of playing strategy based on actual NFL coaches (Landry, Walsh, Parcells, etc).
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"Now, two incomes is required to maintain the same standard of living that our grandparents had."
My grandfather didn't get shoes until he was about 10. He also had to shoot his own meat (usually squirrel) and pick up the shell casings so he could repack the bullets. Neither grandparent had a car until they were well in their 20s and they didn't own a house until they were in their early 30s. Most families I see with two incomes are spending the greater portion of that 2nd income on luxuries that were not available to my grandparents (cable/satellite TV, multiple cars, a whole array of electronics, restaurants, etc). I think that if you really went back to the standards of living my grandparents had, you could live comfortably off of one income.
"How articulate are avid successful gamers? Well, judging by blogs and forums and reader responses of all types posted on the web, I would have to say the communication skills are not generally very high."
You know I just don't see blogs, forums, and reader responses from kiddies pretending to be l33t as a clear indicator of the communication skills of successful gamers.
While I do agree that good game players *might* make pitiful reviewers, there are probably quite a few that could be good reviewers. Gaming and reviewing can be seen as two completely different jobs in related fields. Some people will be good at both while some will not.
Take the example of sports boradcasters. Some people are good sports announcers but not good athletes (ex. Gumbel). Some are good athletes but are terrible broadcasters (ex. Deion Sanders, who obviously can't read very well). Then there are the people who are good at both (ex. Howie).
I remember when Starbuck was charged with robbing the Bank of Hanoi when he really didn't. That was sad how he had to go on the run with his two fellow accusants. And then when they had to spring their friend out of the mental institution all the time...
Oh wait. Wrong show.
I'm not too familiar with the unreal engine, but is there a way for the end-user to integrate the mods and graphics packages into the Linux unreal engine? Is there some code in the mod that is not cross-platform? How much liberty was taken with the engine? Will the developers for the R6 game (RedStorm?) answer your question?
Other than those considerations, the only other reason I can think of is lack of interest on the game developer's part. They see $"cost to do QA testing on Linux version" > $"loss from Linux-only gamers". That may be true or it may not be true. The only way for them to be sure is for the gamers to take your advice and send an e-mail or phone call or letter to the game developer and encourage them to create games for your OS (and maybe even point out how easy this could be in the R6 example).
I very much disagree. The games Linux gamers want to play by and large are not available on Linux. With wine and cedega, at least some of those games are available. Why keep around a Windows partition if you're happy with 70% performance? What added incentive do game developers have to develop native Linux games if you're just going to keep your native Windows partition around anyways?
I say we support the emulation efforts. Through the support of a strong community, the emulation quality and performance will improve. The more the quality of emulation improves, the less likely gamers are to keep that Windows parition around. If enough gamers drop their Windows partition, then game developers will begin to be penalized financially for not writing code that is compatible with the emulators. When that happens, game developers will look at Linux as a viable platform to support, initially in emulation and perhaps eventually as a native platform.
I agree, mailing DVDs to one or two people would be far cheaper than a commercial-free distribution.
No, it's actually going to be 360 times the size of the original.
...Microsoft released X-Boxen 2 - 358 already and they just didn't catch on.
I think a bigger factor in Sega's rush to the market was their last-minute decision to change the graphics processor. That threw developers for a loop because now the system was 10 times harder to develop for. The Atari Jaguar suffered a similar fate at the hands of programming difficulty. The Playstation on the other hand was based on the MIPS architecture which is taught in most CS and CE degree programs so a lot of programmers were already at least somewhat familiar with it.
Funny, I think of him as Wil Wheaton the kid who was in the movie with River Pheonix, Corey Feldman, and the Sliders kid who used to be fat but isn't anymore. And just so you know, he got his start long before ST:TNG.
I am interested in reading what he has to say about classic video games.
You need to check a few dates. 60-70 year olds were not involved with World War II. A 70 year old would be 11 at the oldest by the end of WWII (1939-1945). A 70 year old would be 18 at the end of the Korean War so it is possible that they could've been involved with that (1950-1953). A 60 to 70 year old would be a prime target for involvement in the Vietnam War (usually considered 1962-1972). For the most part, 60 to 70 year olds are also not involved with Iraq (aside from a VP and maybe a few high ranking military personnel), but I imagine that your generation (making assumption based on working retail means you're at least 15 and I get the impression that those involved in Vietnam are at least two generations removed from you because you've lumped them in with Korea and WWII) is very involved with Iraq though you could possibly be a year or two shy of being able to participate yourself.
Keep in mind that the only reason I'm picking on you here is that I think your first and second paragraph have a lot of good points in them and I'd hate to see a good argument ruined by a bit of ignorance in your 3rd paragraph.
You mean like that "Republican" former-Senator Hollings or the "Republican" who recently stepped down from heading the FCC?
$7 billion being spent on games nowadays but adventure games and some other long-forgotten genres are still all but extinct? With all this money being spent on gaming, it seems like a development house about the size Sierra was in its heyday could still carve out a respectable (but not glamorous) living.
Lack of decent bandwidth and latency issues are costing wireless plans billions. WiFi's not the best thing on earth, but it sure beats the wireless broadband provided by Verizon. That money didn't belong to wireless providers to begin with. Another alternative could be that lack of hotspots costing WiFi programs billions since users are stuck with wireless in that case.
It will be interesting if EA can manage to get exclusive rights to team names and logos.
Step 1: Reuinite the Bells Step 2: Use uber resources to roll out fiber (which they apparently don't have to share like their copper) Step 3: Regain monopoly
...would be the parents monitor what software little Johnny is installing on the computer and to ask what that software does (with demonstration of course). I know if I see icons pop up on the family computer desktop or start menu, I tend to ask the family who installed it and what it does.
They're going to get rid of that whole side-talking thing. Oh nevermind, we're talking about a different system.
Because there's a lot more to coaching than play-calling. You wouldn't have to understand everything that makes a great coach. You would just have to be able to track the statistical likelihood of calling certain plays based on how those coaches called them in different situations. For example, on 3rd and 10 on the opponent's 17 yard line with no timeouts left and very little time on the clock in the 4th quarter you'd expect a pass. 95% of all NFL coaches will call a pass there, but Bill Parcells called a run and got a 17 yard TD off of it this year (Dallas v. Seattle). Very few coaches would've made that call there, but Parcells will do that kind of thing from time to time. Likewise, Dan Reeves had a big tendency to go for 4th and 1 early in the game to "establish the running game." Just because I know these things doesn't mean I have a good shot at a career in coaching but it doesn mean that I could put those traits into an AI given the opportunity.
I said I "SIGN MY NAME and then put ASK FOR ID next to it." I did sign it and therefore it is usable. I just happen to write my t (last letter in my last name) like this: "t ASK FOR ID"
You do not have to ask for id just because it says to on the card, but every credit card merchant account agreement I've ever been part of (as a tech consultant for several clothing stores) states that we must verify that the signture on the back of the card matches the one on the receipt and/or check for proper identification. It might not be store policy, but the store did agree to do either check the signature or id and as a consumer, I'd like to do all I can to ensure that the store lives up to their part of the bargain.
I sign my name and then put ASK FOR ID next to it. Interestingly enough, I was in London on vacation back in 2000. I had one shop (or is it a "shoppe" over there?) request that I write out ASK FOR ID next to my signature so it matched what was on the card. Are the credit card companies just stricter over there or something?
I had a friend in college whose dad opened up a credit card account in my friend's name, charged it up, and let it default. My friend talked to legal services on campus (I'm not sure how good our campus legal services is but our law school is pretty good for a public school). They basically told him that he sould either pay it off or claim fraud and let the credit card company haul his dad off to jail. I can't imaging putting my child in that situation. He asked me what he should do but I didn't know what to tell him. That's a pretty sorry situation for a relative to put you in, especially your own father.
I think a more important step would be to get Cowher to not panic when falling behind. It seems like every time they trail an opponent, the Steelers go back to their blitzing ways (and I'm not talking about the 4-man pseudo-blitz that is the product of a 3-4 defense). He also used to abandon the run as soon as he fell behind by even the smallest margin but now he's moved to sticking with the run when it should be abandoned (ex. defense stacking the box every down). I don't know which one is worse but neither is a good thing. I think Cowher has the potential to be a multiple Super Bowl winner but he's still on my list of "Coaches who Will Never Win a Super Bowl" (along with such favorites as Martz, Reid, and Dennis Green) until he straightens out a few things in his coaching strategy.
I've had similar issues with every NFL game I've ever played. The coaching doesn't get any better until you're playing an opponent that is twice as talented as they should be. Most games do not accurately differenciate between Intellegence (smarts) and Ability (relative strength). I would love to see a Madden game where I can keep the opponent's ability even with my own, but play a really smart AI coach. Even better would be a Madden game where there are patterns of playing strategy based on actual NFL coaches (Landry, Walsh, Parcells, etc).