"Bottom line: You can't single out the big corporate game houses for "endlessly rehashed titles" okay?
"
Agreed, the little guys rehash too. But take Escape Velocity for example. A rehash? Yeah Sundog came out, what 15 years before it? But it had a depth and downright fun nature that made it a great rework. And as Big Publisher rehashes go, I still consider UT to be a peak of the FPS genre. (Purely my opinion, of course.)
I'm not saying there's groundbreaking software being written at every small development house, but maybe it's that even the rehashes of the Small Guys seem to have more soul more often.
OpenGL can actually make 3D programming relatively simple, actually. Same for other APIs, or even wholesale game engines that are available.
Granted one person sure won't be creating a Tribes2-class title, but some great stuff can be done.
Almost seems like many gamers are geared more toward eye-candy and FPS rather than pure gameplay. Not the crew here probably, but the mass market at large. And the Big Companies push exactly that since they can spit it out and make a profit.
Some of my favorite games are still the older ones ('80s vintage), simplicity and all. *sigh*
Reading stuff like this always makes me ponder the fate of the small developer over the years. I know they're out there (Ambrosia on the MacOS side, etc.) and that they still create some fun stuff. But in the current sea of endlessly rehashed titles by Big Corporate Game Houses(tm) it sure does seem like they get lost in the noise. Can't afford to buy shelf space? Sorry. Can't afford to buy a review in a fanboy game rag? Sorry.
Seems like the same dilemma as the book publishing industry. Anyone can write, most creations are crap but some real gems do get produced. The problem comes in gettings the freakin' thing on a shelf. Big publishers (dead tree and computer games) generally seem to filter out anything innovative by focusing on tried-and-true regurgitated themes.
The alternative is to go with a Web presence and skip the Big Publisher filter altogether, but even today that seems to be a compromise at best.
So... a very long-winded way of asking what small developers are doing these days? Self-publishing? Reluctantly tailoring titles to please the Big Publishers?
How I yearn for the days of People Pong and Aztec....
Is reading REALLY that fucking hard for you? I was quoting from Kerry's testimony re: a specific meeting in Detroit, where 150 vets had gotten together to share their experiences. You want more instances? Ask around instead of keeping your head in the sand. Of COURSE most people weren't doing it. It was merely common. 1% being bad/twisted/evil is all you need to make something common in a combat zone.
"show me a city of 2.5 million without a few criminals."
Exactly. So by your logic, anyone who reports a crime or testifies in NYC should be berated for painting all the other citizens with the same brush? Muggings are common in Detroit. How many actual muggers do you think there are? And do the 99% who are law-abiding feel put out by testimony against the muggers? Your argument defies logic.
"You paint them all with the same brush and for that you should be ashamed."
You should try thinking, vs. parroting your favorite AM talk-radio host. How does Kerry and fellow vets reporting war crimes paint all vets with the same brush?
I'm a vet, been there done that. If there were war crimes going on during a war, while serving or otherwise, I'd WANT to know about it. I'd WANT the WHOLE FREAKIN' WORLD to know about it. Know why? Read carefully now. Because those of us who are *NOT* committing war crimes want them stopped! Why? Read carefully again, this concept will no doubt blow your mind: Because when they are NOT stopped, (1) People are being murdered/tortured, (2) Their war crimes start PAINTING THE REST OF US WITH THE SAME BRUSH, poisoning our efforts and turning the in-country civilians against us.
Wow. What a concept.
"If there is a hell, I'm sure there's an extra warm spot in it reserved for Hanoi Jane?"
Fully agree. To this day I believe Jane deserves to be brought up on charges. Protesting is one thing. Trying to stop the killing is welcomed. Years after that rally, when Jane was sitting on that NK AA gun, that was pure treason.
"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back..." The Dalai Lama of Tibet
How about those 16 women and children in Son Thang who were rounded up and summarily executed at point-blank range? What does the Dalai Lama say about that?
"If these incidents are true, then he was bound by law and duty to report them to his commander. He never reported anything (he just waited until he was back home and made sweeping allegations)"
Who says he never reported them? Let's take a look at that document you linked to (Kerry's testimony). "I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes commited in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes commited on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all leves of command." Seems to me like there were plenty of vets in agreement there. And referencing the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.
"In fact he claimed that atrocities were commonplace, which means he was slandering his fellow servicemen and disgracing his country."
According to the concensus of 150 fellow veterans referenced above, atrocities were commonplace. Why would that be slander?
It's a lot different then the action movies you've grown up on. In fact, when I was serving in Somalia, the situation was closer to "Blackhawk Down" than "Stripes".
---
Well that's nice. I was serving in SWA/Kuwait a few years prior to your stint. When Bush Sr. realized that going into Baghdad would result in a dangerous power vacuum that could lead to a fundamentalist Islamic state. Not to mention civlian casualties and general chaos.
I'm pro-military. I'm vehemently against the current debacle launched in Iraq. And I can definitely see where a Vietnam vet coming home just might have something to say about how pointless that war was.
So again there, Mr. Somalia: What makes you think one cannot simultaneously be pro-military and yet still protest against a war?
I think it's interesting that the media is following the forged photo and completely ignoring the fact that the man claiming now to be pro-military and bragging about his service record has been proven to be one of Hanoi Jane's fellow protesters.
---
What makes you think one cannot simultaneously be pro-military and yet still protest against a war?
I always find it amusing when "chickenhawk" civilians criticize veterans who protest against a war. As if the chickenhawks could even conceive of what these men and women have gone through.... Here's a hint: It's probably a little different than the "Ahnold" action movies you were weaned on.
> c a t a t a t n t . o r g > > where is the 'at'==@ in that letter sequence?
Simple, I and my other fellow HF CW friends have been doing it for years. Per your example:
"c a t a t a n t . o r g"
Itsnotasifyoucruncheverythingtogetherduringanexc ha nge. Especially in Morse. You were able to read that mashed sentence with only a little extra trouble. Try that in Morse code and it's a total parsing disaster due to the binary symbols and the variable-length sequences that denote letters and symbols.
Newbies sending Morse can be EXTREMELY difficult to understand because of poor spacing.
Proper morse code has three levels of pauses:
0) Between dits/dahs 1) Longer ones between words. 2) Really long ones while us Old Timers try to remember just what the hell we were talking about.;-)
> your Grandmother buying skin-tight leather trousers.
Ach! My Mind's Eye! It burns!!!
Dude, why don't you have mercy next time and just put a link to the goatse guy?
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed, the little guys rehash too. But take Escape Velocity for example. A rehash? Yeah Sundog came out, what 15 years before it? But it had a depth and downright fun nature that made it a great rework. And as Big Publisher rehashes go, I still consider UT to be a peak of the FPS genre. (Purely my opinion, of course.)
I'm not saying there's groundbreaking software being written at every small development house, but maybe it's that even the rehashes of the Small Guys seem to have more soul more often.
OpenGL can actually make 3D programming relatively simple, actually. Same for other APIs, or even wholesale game engines that are available.
Granted one person sure won't be creating a Tribes2-class title, but some great stuff can be done.
Almost seems like many gamers are geared more toward eye-candy and FPS rather than pure gameplay. Not the crew here probably, but the mass market at large. And the Big Companies push exactly that since they can spit it out and make a profit.
Some of my favorite games are still the older ones ('80s vintage), simplicity and all. *sigh*
Reading stuff like this always makes me ponder the fate of the small developer over the years. I know they're out there (Ambrosia on the MacOS side, etc.) and that they still create some fun stuff. But in the current sea of endlessly rehashed titles by Big Corporate Game Houses(tm) it sure does seem like they get lost in the noise. Can't afford to buy shelf space? Sorry. Can't afford to buy a review in a fanboy game rag? Sorry.
Seems like the same dilemma as the book publishing industry. Anyone can write, most creations are crap but some real gems do get produced. The problem comes in gettings the freakin' thing on a shelf. Big publishers (dead tree and computer games) generally seem to filter out anything innovative by focusing on tried-and-true regurgitated themes.
The alternative is to go with a Web presence and skip the Big Publisher filter altogether, but even today that seems to be a compromise at best.
So... a very long-winded way of asking what small developers are doing these days? Self-publishing? Reluctantly tailoring titles to please the Big Publishers?
How I yearn for the days of People Pong and Aztec....
"Wow, a whole 150?"
Is reading REALLY that fucking hard for you? I was quoting from Kerry's testimony re: a specific meeting in Detroit, where 150 vets had gotten together to share their experiences. You want more instances? Ask around instead of keeping your head in the sand. Of COURSE most people weren't doing it. It was merely common. 1% being bad/twisted/evil is all you need to make something common in a combat zone.
"show me a city of 2.5 million without a few criminals."
Exactly. So by your logic, anyone who reports a crime or testifies in NYC should be berated for painting all the other citizens with the same brush? Muggings are common in Detroit. How many actual muggers do you think there are? And do the 99% who are law-abiding feel put out by testimony against the muggers? Your argument defies logic.
"You paint them all with the same brush and for that you should be ashamed."
You should try thinking, vs. parroting your favorite AM talk-radio host. How does Kerry and fellow vets reporting war crimes paint all vets with the same brush?
I'm a vet, been there done that. If there were war crimes going on during a war, while serving or otherwise, I'd WANT to know about it. I'd WANT the WHOLE FREAKIN' WORLD to know about it. Know why? Read carefully now. Because those of us who are *NOT* committing war crimes want them stopped! Why? Read carefully again, this concept will no doubt blow your mind: Because when they are NOT stopped, (1) People are being murdered/tortured, (2) Their war crimes start PAINTING THE REST OF US WITH THE SAME BRUSH, poisoning our efforts and turning the in-country civilians against us.
Wow. What a concept.
"If there is a hell, I'm sure there's an extra warm spot in it reserved for Hanoi Jane?"
Fully agree. To this day I believe Jane deserves to be brought up on charges. Protesting is one thing. Trying to stop the killing is welcomed. Years after that rally, when Jane was sitting on that NK AA gun, that was pure treason.
"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back..." The Dalai Lama of Tibet
How about those 16 women and children in Son Thang who were rounded up and summarily executed at point-blank range? What does the Dalai Lama say about that?
extremecenter wrote:
"If these incidents are true, then he was bound by law and duty to report them to his commander. He never reported anything (he just waited until he was back home and made sweeping allegations)"
Who says he never reported them? Let's take a look at that document you linked to (Kerry's testimony). "I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes commited in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes commited on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all leves of command." Seems to me like there were plenty of vets in agreement there. And referencing the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.
"In fact he claimed that atrocities were commonplace, which means he was slandering his fellow servicemen and disgracing his country."
According to the concensus of 150 fellow veterans referenced above, atrocities were commonplace. Why would that be slander?
extremecenter wrote:
I'm sure Kerry would like people to believe that records of his testimony before Congress are just hoaxes too.
---Hmmm. I'll bite. What could possibly be wrong about someone testifying re: war crimes?
Or is it "unpatriotic" to discuss My Lai and Son Thang? It isn't a crime if it's done to "Them"?
It's a lot different then the action movies you've grown up on. In fact, when I was serving in Somalia, the situation was closer to "Blackhawk Down" than "Stripes".
---Well that's nice. I was serving in SWA/Kuwait a few years prior to your stint. When Bush Sr. realized that going into Baghdad would result in a dangerous power vacuum that could lead to a fundamentalist Islamic state. Not to mention civlian casualties and general chaos.
I'm pro-military. I'm vehemently against the current debacle launched in Iraq. And I can definitely see where a Vietnam vet coming home just might have something to say about how pointless that war was.
So again there, Mr. Somalia: What makes you think one cannot simultaneously be pro-military and yet still protest against a war?
I think it's interesting that the media is following the forged photo and completely ignoring the fact that the man claiming now to be pro-military and bragging about his service record has been proven to be one of Hanoi Jane's fellow protesters.
---What makes you think one cannot simultaneously be pro-military and yet still protest against a war?
I always find it amusing when "chickenhawk" civilians criticize veterans who protest against a war. As if the chickenhawks could even conceive of what these men and women have gone through.... Here's a hint: It's probably a little different than the "Ahnold" action movies you were weaned on.
So is a necrophiliac cannibal someone who plays with their food before they eat it?
What is this "unit test" you refer to? If we consider our customer base to be a "unit", does that count?
Yours Truly (All Belongs To Me),
Bill
Having lived on MREs (v1.0) in the past while serving, I can see where this is actually a matter of enhancing troop welfare.
(I hear the v2.0 MREs are actually pretty good though.)
OK, more like damn rushed slashdot poster.
I had added angle-bracket delimited "word pause"s to that example and the Slashdot plaintext mode ate it. I guess that's what "Review" is for.
Try this again:
"c a t (word pause) a t (word pause) a n t . o r g"
> c a t a t a t n t . o r g
c ha nge. Especially in Morse. You were able to read that mashed sentence with only a little extra trouble. Try that in Morse code and it's a total parsing disaster due to the binary symbols and the variable-length sequences that denote letters and symbols.
;-)
>
> where is the 'at'==@ in that letter sequence?
Simple, I and my other fellow HF CW friends have been doing it for years. Per your example:
"c a t a t a n t . o r g"
Itsnotasifyoucruncheverythingtogetherduringanex
Newbies sending Morse can be EXTREMELY difficult to understand because of poor spacing.
Proper morse code has three levels of pauses:
0) Between dits/dahs
1) Longer ones between words.
2) Really long ones while us Old Timers try to remember just what the hell we were talking about.
(Pardon the lack of formatting - typing blind....)
> your Grandmother buying skin-tight leather trousers. Ach! My Mind's Eye! It burns!!! Dude, why don't you have mercy next time and just put a link to the goatse guy?