Don't let Paramount screw up Star Trek Online! From what I have read so far, it's about the only MMOG that I would pay $15 a month to play. If they implement this thing the way they're talking about doing it, it could REALLY be a lot of fun. I especially like how it seems to promote the "lesser" assignments (as in, you don't have to be a command-track person if you don't want to). I just hope they manage to make the game "feel" like Star Trek...
Good suggestions. I would also invest in something like Norton's Ghost software, because once you get your PCs configured, it's a tremendous pain to have to manually restore your configuration. With Ghost, you have a PC with a big hard drive that contains the image of a brand-new proper configuration, so that when Windows crashes, (not if!) You can give it a ghostie and be up and running that much faster.
Make sure that you leave plenty of room for growth. Buy bigger than you need; for instance, start with a 24-port switch instead of a little 8-port. You don't need those extra outlets now, but wait a bit and if this business really takes off, you'll be glad you got started that way. Establish standards for your hardware... if everyone's PCs will be using the same motherboards, you only need maybe 2 spare mobos in stock.
If you just think ahead a bit, you'll solve most of the pesky little problems before they even exist. For the rest, you'll need to start learning as much as you can about networking... the "for Dummies" books are good, like someone said, and if you're doing Windows stuff, you might want to get the study materials they offer for their certifications.
Perhaps the most underrated comment on the topic. Businesses are not going to say "Hey, we can actually sell new ____ for 10 bucks less! Let's do it!" No, instead they're going to say to themselves something like "We've reduced our costs by $10 per unit. Now we're making _____ more per game on opening day!" They use piracy (arrrrrrr!) as an excuse to raise prices ("because you thieves are hurting our bottom line!") and then when it's not a major issue anymore (as in PC gaming), they don't restore prices to what they were, because they still sold enough copies at the $60 price point to make it more profitable than the $50 price point.
My problem with EA is that they're so concerned with piracy that they're not actually trying to court the gamers who pay their bills. Novalogic's Delta Force: Black Hawk Down has (on their standard installation) a LAN-only version of their executable that you can play without a CD in your drive if you're at a party and want to join the fun. Try that with Battlefield 1942.
sue the little white guys who cruise around here in their cars with rap or R&B playing at insane levels.
That is quite possibly the most intelligent statement anywhere on this page. I don't make them listen to my music at traffic lights; why should I be forced to listen to theirs?
we're only required to learn English since our public school system thinks English is the shiznit
I totally disagree. We're only required to learn English because we're unwilling to admit that some kids can't hack it at the top. "We're all winners" and crap. Rather than judging academics by true merit, we hold back the rest of the class so that the one moron can catch up. Been in a high-school class recently? There are kids in "honors" programs who can't solve a problem without someone holding their hands all the way through, can't write a decently constructed paper in their own native language, and can't divide 2 numbers without a calculator... (notice the choice of words, that's an AND...) It makes me sick to think about. I know I sat in classrooms while the teacher re-explained things to the one person in the front of the class who had a deer-in-the-headlights look while the rest of us whacked our heads on our desks in frustration because this person hadn't understood anything *yet* for the whole term. If we had a system that separated students out and wasn't afraid to say "you're not good at this," perhaps more of us would be able to speak several languages and perform as well as the rest of the world.
I hope it *does* have a major impact on game sales. The problem I personally have is that most of the games on the shelf right now are boring recompiles of a game they released this time last year. Maybe if people try it, find out it's really crap, and don't buy it, the game companies will lose enough money on their crappy re-releases that they'll have to actually come up with innovative stuff so that people will buy them.
I would mod you all the way to the top if I could...
My experiences with many of my non-reading friends is very similar. I went to school with a guy who plays games about as frequently as I do, but didn't do much reading when he was younger; his command of the English language doesn't extend beyond the level of video game text... it's simple, gets the point across, but it doesn't sound like a highly educated person (which he is) wrote it. Kids should have to read more... even if it isn't the "classics". As far as I'm concerned, Dickens sucked. But Tolkien? There's some pretty advanced reading in some parts of his work. If you can survive The Silmarillion (which I couldn't), you've got a great ability to understand English. I could follow parts of it, but some of it I had to read several times to understand what he was saying. Don't make them read "the Classics" just because they're "the Classics". Read well-written stuff from non-traditional sources, too. Most of all, just spend time reading things! Our whole society's communication system in about 20 years is going to be "OMGWTFBBQ r u coming over 2nite?" unless kids learn the written word... and while games are good, they don't teach this incredibly valuable skill.
I assume SpikeTV is the same schedule everywhere; they've actually added another TNG in the 3 o'clock spot. MacGyver now doesn't start 'til 4, so you got 5 hours of Star Trek back-to-back. Thank you, DVR...
Actually, no they didn't, "Archimedes". They stole the idea about the single ticket. The Apple guys were OUTSIDE the door. Try reading before being a smart@$$.
A lot of good points there, but I'm not sure if they apply to FPS style games. It's not an "experience" system that gives your character better ability, it's just a reference. Maybe instead of "Levels" they should just be a stats page. You can see how many wins/losses and even have the results sorted by date (so if Jake is using Bob's character today, you can see that for the last 5 games, Jake has sucked). It would give at least some indication, which is better than randomly joining rooms only to find that user "jake_the_killer" really can't even kill himself in this game.
I was never fond of the cheaters. Before stuff like PunkBuster, some of the codes for games would work in Multiplayer mode as well as single player... and there would be idiots who would use them.
We used to tell noob's about a "Super-Secret Cheat Code that everybody uses" in Delta Force 2... look straight down, and press 9-ctrl. Eventually, curiosity would get them, and you'd hear a grenade go off and see a message that joe_noob fragged himself (9 = grenade, ctrl = fire). They'd either take it good-naturedly, or they'd get mad at us and leave. The ones who took it well usually ended up playing fairly. Good times...
I play CoD too... it's an option on the server menu... and most of the games I've played in do have it enabled. It's pretty cool to have around so you don't start flaming someone who just got a good/lucky/whatever shot. Negative: It makes it easy to cheat in other ways (if you watch a player for a little bit on the killcam, you can sometimes make a good guess at where to find him next... or in team matches, you can tell your buddies where he was). But the benefits typically outweigh the negatives.
Agreed. They should have an overall "Skill Level" that goes up with ALL experience. Then have a modifier for each game type.
Player: Bob
Level: 10
Deathmatch: 3
CTF: 0
TDM: 7
If all values started at 0, Bob gained 7 levels in TDMs and 3 in deathmatches. The server would have to show both the game type number and the overall, so you can see that if Bob is in a TDM, he spends most of his time playing TDM (7 out of his total 10).
Drat, guess I can't take that idea to the patent office now...
I agree. It would be awesome to see them set up something that parallels the expansion into the American West in the 1800s. Imagine going somewhere, building a house, and trying to make it on your own with small groups of settlers; the social people who all live near each other become towns... then let the developers be in charge of creating stuff around the towns for the people to get into, such as quests or a gold rush or something... it could be like "Little House on the Warcraft":P
I would make it so that NPCs could never be shopkeepers or anything though... you'd surely find some players with enough entrepreneurial spirit to go into business running Bob the Elf's General Store. It should really be a separate class, where they gain experience and receive business bonuses and stuff just as mages receive new spells. I get tired of hacking and slashing all the time... if I could be the shopkeeper who hears the gossip and helps other players learn where certain things are (even accept bribes for information?), I think that would be a fun role to play in the game.
I've been fortunate enough to not be in a theater where this kind of retarded behavior took place, except for once when I took the wife to see a kiddie movie that she really wanted to see (so it really wasn't fair to expect any different). I know I'd have been the geek from the Black Lagoon, though, if those little twats had been in LotR...
My bro and I were reminiscing about some of these just last night. He's got ringtones on his cell of Mario and Guile's theme from Street Fighter 2. Some of that stuff, even if short, is freakin' addictive. Some of the music from Jurassic Park on the Sega Genesis always gets stuck in my head, too... one of my favorites!
If you're lucky enough to be a crew member of one of the next European Space Agency (ESA) long-term missions
ESA says that these recipes will use fresh ingredients grown in greenhouses built on Mars colonies or other planets.
So one of their next missions will feature food grown on Mars? Talk about jumping the gun! Oh wait, this is Roland. Dang it, I took the bait.
At work, we use NOTHING but the "clone" knockoffs in all our printers, because they're so much cheaper. We replace them at about the same frequency as the originals.
Science is too much about money. Scientists are under pressure to make a money-making discovery for whoever pays their bills. If it's not profitable, the boss man doesn't want to hear it. If scientists could just be paid to be scientists, we'd probably be more advanced than we are now.
It is the parents' job. The problem is that you can't fire parents who don't perform... and we've got too many that need to be fired. If people who couldn't handle parenthood were sterilized shortly after puberty, the rest of us would have a much more enjoyable life.
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Don't let Paramount screw up Star Trek Online! From what I have read so far, it's about the only MMOG that I would pay $15 a month to play. If they implement this thing the way they're talking about doing it, it could REALLY be a lot of fun. I especially like how it seems to promote the "lesser" assignments (as in, you don't have to be a command-track person if you don't want to). I just hope they manage to make the game "feel" like Star Trek...
Just thought of something else you can check out... I've been a member on this forum since 2002 and I've learned a lot from them....
http://www.tek-tips.com/ Free registration, lots and lots of forums.
Good suggestions. I would also invest in something like Norton's Ghost software, because once you get your PCs configured, it's a tremendous pain to have to manually restore your configuration. With Ghost, you have a PC with a big hard drive that contains the image of a brand-new proper configuration, so that when Windows crashes, (not if!) You can give it a ghostie and be up and running that much faster.
Make sure that you leave plenty of room for growth. Buy bigger than you need; for instance, start with a 24-port switch instead of a little 8-port. You don't need those extra outlets now, but wait a bit and if this business really takes off, you'll be glad you got started that way. Establish standards for your hardware... if everyone's PCs will be using the same motherboards, you only need maybe 2 spare mobos in stock.
If you just think ahead a bit, you'll solve most of the pesky little problems before they even exist. For the rest, you'll need to start learning as much as you can about networking... the "for Dummies" books are good, like someone said, and if you're doing Windows stuff, you might want to get the study materials they offer for their certifications.
Perhaps the most underrated comment on the topic. Businesses are not going to say "Hey, we can actually sell new ____ for 10 bucks less! Let's do it!" No, instead they're going to say to themselves something like "We've reduced our costs by $10 per unit. Now we're making _____ more per game on opening day!" They use piracy (arrrrrrr!) as an excuse to raise prices ("because you thieves are hurting our bottom line!") and then when it's not a major issue anymore (as in PC gaming), they don't restore prices to what they were, because they still sold enough copies at the $60 price point to make it more profitable than the $50 price point.
Right on. Especially about the pie ;)
My problem with EA is that they're so concerned with piracy that they're not actually trying to court the gamers who pay their bills. Novalogic's Delta Force: Black Hawk Down has (on their standard installation) a LAN-only version of their executable that you can play without a CD in your drive if you're at a party and want to join the fun. Try that with Battlefield 1942.
EA is not saying to install the game. They're saying "play without the patch". Way to go /. editors...
As far as BF2 goes, I guess I'll wait to get this one. I was really looking forward to it, too, 'cause if done right, this game would rock.
sue the little white guys who cruise around here in their cars with rap or R&B playing at insane levels.
That is quite possibly the most intelligent statement anywhere on this page. I don't make them listen to my music at traffic lights; why should I be forced to listen to theirs?
we're only required to learn English since our public school system thinks English is the shiznit
I totally disagree. We're only required to learn English because we're unwilling to admit that some kids can't hack it at the top. "We're all winners" and crap. Rather than judging academics by true merit, we hold back the rest of the class so that the one moron can catch up. Been in a high-school class recently? There are kids in "honors" programs who can't solve a problem without someone holding their hands all the way through, can't write a decently constructed paper in their own native language, and can't divide 2 numbers without a calculator... (notice the choice of words, that's an AND...) It makes me sick to think about. I know I sat in classrooms while the teacher re-explained things to the one person in the front of the class who had a deer-in-the-headlights look while the rest of us whacked our heads on our desks in frustration because this person hadn't understood anything *yet* for the whole term. If we had a system that separated students out and wasn't afraid to say "you're not good at this," perhaps more of us would be able to speak several languages and perform as well as the rest of the world.
I hope it *does* have a major impact on game sales. The problem I personally have is that most of the games on the shelf right now are boring recompiles of a game they released this time last year. Maybe if people try it, find out it's really crap, and don't buy it, the game companies will lose enough money on their crappy re-releases that they'll have to actually come up with innovative stuff so that people will buy them.
I would mod you all the way to the top if I could...
My experiences with many of my non-reading friends is very similar. I went to school with a guy who plays games about as frequently as I do, but didn't do much reading when he was younger; his command of the English language doesn't extend beyond the level of video game text... it's simple, gets the point across, but it doesn't sound like a highly educated person (which he is) wrote it. Kids should have to read more... even if it isn't the "classics". As far as I'm concerned, Dickens sucked. But Tolkien? There's some pretty advanced reading in some parts of his work. If you can survive The Silmarillion (which I couldn't), you've got a great ability to understand English. I could follow parts of it, but some of it I had to read several times to understand what he was saying. Don't make them read "the Classics" just because they're "the Classics". Read well-written stuff from non-traditional sources, too. Most of all, just spend time reading things! Our whole society's communication system in about 20 years is going to be "OMGWTFBBQ r u coming over 2nite?" unless kids learn the written word... and while games are good, they don't teach this incredibly valuable skill.
You think you've got it bad; I can't even finish a
I assume SpikeTV is the same schedule everywhere; they've actually added another TNG in the 3 o'clock spot. MacGyver now doesn't start 'til 4, so you got 5 hours of Star Trek back-to-back. Thank you, DVR...
Actually, no they didn't, "Archimedes". They stole the idea about the single ticket. The Apple guys were OUTSIDE the door. Try reading before being a smart@$$.
A lot of good points there, but I'm not sure if they apply to FPS style games. It's not an "experience" system that gives your character better ability, it's just a reference. Maybe instead of "Levels" they should just be a stats page. You can see how many wins/losses and even have the results sorted by date (so if Jake is using Bob's character today, you can see that for the last 5 games, Jake has sucked). It would give at least some indication, which is better than randomly joining rooms only to find that user "jake_the_killer" really can't even kill himself in this game.
He's kinda dead. Nice try, though. ;)
I was never fond of the cheaters. Before stuff like PunkBuster, some of the codes for games would work in Multiplayer mode as well as single player... and there would be idiots who would use them.
We used to tell noob's about a "Super-Secret Cheat Code that everybody uses" in Delta Force 2... look straight down, and press 9-ctrl. Eventually, curiosity would get them, and you'd hear a grenade go off and see a message that joe_noob fragged himself (9 = grenade, ctrl = fire). They'd either take it good-naturedly, or they'd get mad at us and leave. The ones who took it well usually ended up playing fairly. Good times...
I play CoD too... it's an option on the server menu... and most of the games I've played in do have it enabled. It's pretty cool to have around so you don't start flaming someone who just got a good/lucky/whatever shot. Negative: It makes it easy to cheat in other ways (if you watch a player for a little bit on the killcam, you can sometimes make a good guess at where to find him next... or in team matches, you can tell your buddies where he was). But the benefits typically outweigh the negatives.
Agreed. They should have an overall "Skill Level" that goes up with ALL experience. Then have a modifier for each game type.
Player: Bob
Level: 10
Deathmatch: 3
CTF: 0
TDM: 7
If all values started at 0, Bob gained 7 levels in TDMs and 3 in deathmatches. The server would have to show both the game type number and the overall, so you can see that if Bob is in a TDM, he spends most of his time playing TDM (7 out of his total 10). Drat, guess I can't take that idea to the patent office now...
I agree. It would be awesome to see them set up something that parallels the expansion into the American West in the 1800s. Imagine going somewhere, building a house, and trying to make it on your own with small groups of settlers; the social people who all live near each other become towns... then let the developers be in charge of creating stuff around the towns for the people to get into, such as quests or a gold rush or something... it could be like "Little House on the Warcraft" :P
I would make it so that NPCs could never be shopkeepers or anything though... you'd surely find some players with enough entrepreneurial spirit to go into business running Bob the Elf's General Store. It should really be a separate class, where they gain experience and receive business bonuses and stuff just as mages receive new spells. I get tired of hacking and slashing all the time... if I could be the shopkeeper who hears the gossip and helps other players learn where certain things are (even accept bribes for information?), I think that would be a fun role to play in the game.
(Re: #5) Hey, I know her... ;)
I've been fortunate enough to not be in a theater where this kind of retarded behavior took place, except for once when I took the wife to see a kiddie movie that she really wanted to see (so it really wasn't fair to expect any different). I know I'd have been the geek from the Black Lagoon, though, if those little twats had been in LotR...
My bro and I were reminiscing about some of these just last night. He's got ringtones on his cell of Mario and Guile's theme from Street Fighter 2. Some of that stuff, even if short, is freakin' addictive. Some of the music from Jurassic Park on the Sega Genesis always gets stuck in my head, too... one of my favorites!
If you're lucky enough to be a crew member of one of the next European Space Agency (ESA) long-term missions
ESA says that these recipes will use fresh ingredients grown in greenhouses built on Mars colonies or other planets. So one of their next missions will feature food grown on Mars? Talk about jumping the gun! Oh wait, this is Roland. Dang it, I took the bait.
At work, we use NOTHING but the "clone" knockoffs in all our printers, because they're so much cheaper. We replace them at about the same frequency as the originals.
Science is too much about money. Scientists are under pressure to make a money-making discovery for whoever pays their bills. If it's not profitable, the boss man doesn't want to hear it. If scientists could just be paid to be scientists, we'd probably be more advanced than we are now.
It is the parents' job. The problem is that you can't fire parents who don't perform... and we've got too many that need to be fired. If people who couldn't handle parenthood were sterilized shortly after puberty, the rest of us would have a much more enjoyable life.