Well, I'm fairly good at balancing the budget in Sim City games. The secret is to lower taxes to encourage growth and cut spending so that you have a surplus that you can use for projects later.
...can actually have a significant effect on the atmosphere and climate really have no idea just how large the atmosphere is and just what natural events pump into it normally on a yearly basis.
I would argue that Fox News has more journalistic integrity than CNN and MSNBC. Sure, O'Reilly is a loudmouth that thinks that winning a debate involves talking louder and cutting off your opponent's mic, but CNN still employes Nancy Grace of all people and MSNBC still employs Chris Hansen. Worse, CNN had more or less called the election in favor of Obama all the way back in September. The only time they covered the other camp was when they took time out of fellating Obama to blast Palin.
CNN and MSNBC aren't about reporting the news anymore. They've progressed on to creating it instead. I find that less offensive than Fox News' strategy of being loud.
The leveling up wasn't really that important, since it was maxed at 20 and that took no time to hit. More importantly, certifications could be swapped at any time with no money to spend so even at low levels you have access to any equipment in the game. The only real grind in Planetside was for CR, and that was as simple as being in command of a squad and capturing bases. That kind of leveling is fine, since it doesn't make anyone stronger than anyone else.
On the other hand, customizable weapons don't really work for Planetside. They already have the Punisher if you need a grenade launcher. Adding a suppressor won't do anything. The only weapon with any range already has a scope. What possible customizations could you want that implants don't already cover?
The problem with your suggestions is that you're associating the MMO genre with RPGs. A FPS like Planetside shouldn't have special weapons for quests or anything like that because the entire game is PvP and you have to keep things balanced. The best thing about Planetside was that Jackhammer aside, no weapon was any more deadly than any other. Sure, my survivability would be low, but if I had to I could fight fresh out of the spawn tubes.
What SOE needed to do wasn't add more content to make the game more RPGish. They needed to fix what needed fixing and stop breaking what wasn't. They didn't need to add gigantic mecha that looked like ass and destroyed the balance of the game. They did need to add water vehicles so that we could get amphibious landings and naval support. If they wanted to add quests like holding bases, they would have to be pretty significant accomplishments and have a reward for the outfit like a large airborne command vehicle that can spawn aircraft and light vehicles and only be piloted by someone with CR4 or better and a high rank in the outfit. This kind of thing would have made strategy much more important, especially if the command ship can only be spawned once a week.
That's not entirely accurate. They did plenty to Planetside. They killed it with a complete lack of marketing, an utter refusal to fix some glaring balance issues, and an absolutely terrible strategy of trying to balance things by breaking everything but the one thing that needed to be fixed in the first place. From the bullshit that was the Jackhammer, especially when combined with surge, to the constant juggling and nerfing of the TR MAXs and the way they made the Stryker useless while making the Prowler the biggest, slowest target with only mediocre armor and firepower, the game was doomed from the start. When they ham fisted mechs into the game it was beyond saving.
You jest, but DNF was announced twelve years ago next month. It's not so much of a stretch to imagine it still being "in development" in twelve more years.
I don't think you realize just how much technology has changed since the days of Goldeneye 64 and Pokemon Red and Blue.
Back then multiplayer was you bringing your controller to your friend's house or connecting your Game Boy to your buddy's via link cable. The only time you'd ever play with someone that you didn't know was when you played Street Fighter at the arcade in the mall or movie theater. Handheld consoles had tiny screens that weren't backlit, which made playing in anything but ideal conditions nigh impossible, or they had bright color screens that were still small, but gave you about fifteen minutes of play time on eight AA batteries. Think about cell phones back then. There was no text messaging. There was no internet. Even an address book was a luxury that few had, and at the same time the phones were the same size as your cordless handset at home with barely more battery life than a Game Gear.
Now days every console has online play with people on the other side of the globe that you've never met. Every console has tons of additional content that can be downloaded. All of the consoles have wifi capability and wireless controllers. Even the DS and PSP have wifi built in. I can trade pokemon with some stranger clear on the other side of the country just as easily as I can battle a buddy in Iraq. Even then, the DS and PSP are several years old. Cell phone technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since they were brought to the market. The new Nintendo DSi has much more wifi functionality than the DS and DS Lite, two cameras, and onboard storage. Wireless connectivity between handheld consoles has been around since the GameBoy Color in the form of an IR port and actual wireless in the GameBoy Advance and DS.
Now to be fair, I only read the GEO story, but considering how far we've come in the past eleven years, everything the first scenario is easily achievable within five years, let alone eleven.
He sounds like most of the people I associate with. I dropped out of High School for the exact same reason and found that I was able to educate myself better by fucking off on the internet for the years that I would have been in High School than I was through most of Elementary School and Jr. High. When It takes a tenth grade English class a month to read To Kill A Mockingbird of all things and I was finished by the end of the second day of class, there is a problem.
A herd does nothing but harm itself as a whole by slowing to the speed of the sick and the weak. Let the morons that aren't learning fall behind. That's what special ed classes are for. Do not bring the people capable of learning down to their level. Definitely do not make the above average people hate school because they're bored out of their mind the whole time. Society isn't harmed because little Johnny is too stupid to read properly. There will always be a demand for burger flippers and manual laborers. On the other hand, society is harmed when Tommy decides that formal education is useless and doesn't finish high school and go to college to become an engineer and ends up working alongside Johnny instead.
I believe that the patent in question specifically applies to 3d environments. However, it only describes having what is basically an IRC window in a 3d environment. Think Second Life but with walls inhibiting the freedom of movement. Now given the prior existance of IRC, MUDs, and 3D games well before this patent was filed, it should be fairly easy to see that the combination of them is obvious and thus not patentable. I'm fairly sure that most sci-fi shows involving networked computers that were made prior to the patent would also show a chatroom with a 3d environment. Hell, even Futurama did it.
Slashdot Mirror
Fuck! I just lost.
Well, I'm fairly good at balancing the budget in Sim City games. The secret is to lower taxes to encourage growth and cut spending so that you have a surplus that you can use for projects later.
Nah, I bet it's going to be something awful.
Slashdot.
Only on Slashdot would people find the time to throw a fit over a feature added on April Fools Day...
More than anything, I want to see a "-1, Stupid" mod added. Sometimes someone isn't offtopic or trolling. They're just flat out wrong or stupid.
That's what SHE said!
I don't think it really counts if the initial article is about Nazis.
You know, this may be the fastest that I've ever seen a thread go from 0 to Godwin.
Well, it would certainly end the debate about global warming.
Can we start by nuking the Chinese?
...can actually have a significant effect on the atmosphere and climate really have no idea just how large the atmosphere is and just what natural events pump into it normally on a yearly basis.
I would argue that Fox News has more journalistic integrity than CNN and MSNBC. Sure, O'Reilly is a loudmouth that thinks that winning a debate involves talking louder and cutting off your opponent's mic, but CNN still employes Nancy Grace of all people and MSNBC still employs Chris Hansen. Worse, CNN had more or less called the election in favor of Obama all the way back in September. The only time they covered the other camp was when they took time out of fellating Obama to blast Palin.
CNN and MSNBC aren't about reporting the news anymore. They've progressed on to creating it instead. I find that less offensive than Fox News' strategy of being loud.
Yiff in hell, furfag!
Did you know that the population of African Elephants has tripled in the past six months?
"Houston, this is Endeavor... Holy Jesus. What are these goddamn animals?"
But that's the thing about Planetside. You are just clone 1214251. That's the entire premise for the game.
The leveling up wasn't really that important, since it was maxed at 20 and that took no time to hit. More importantly, certifications could be swapped at any time with no money to spend so even at low levels you have access to any equipment in the game. The only real grind in Planetside was for CR, and that was as simple as being in command of a squad and capturing bases. That kind of leveling is fine, since it doesn't make anyone stronger than anyone else.
On the other hand, customizable weapons don't really work for Planetside. They already have the Punisher if you need a grenade launcher. Adding a suppressor won't do anything. The only weapon with any range already has a scope. What possible customizations could you want that implants don't already cover?
The problem with your suggestions is that you're associating the MMO genre with RPGs. A FPS like Planetside shouldn't have special weapons for quests or anything like that because the entire game is PvP and you have to keep things balanced. The best thing about Planetside was that Jackhammer aside, no weapon was any more deadly than any other. Sure, my survivability would be low, but if I had to I could fight fresh out of the spawn tubes.
What SOE needed to do wasn't add more content to make the game more RPGish. They needed to fix what needed fixing and stop breaking what wasn't. They didn't need to add gigantic mecha that looked like ass and destroyed the balance of the game. They did need to add water vehicles so that we could get amphibious landings and naval support. If they wanted to add quests like holding bases, they would have to be pretty significant accomplishments and have a reward for the outfit like a large airborne command vehicle that can spawn aircraft and light vehicles and only be piloted by someone with CR4 or better and a high rank in the outfit. This kind of thing would have made strategy much more important, especially if the command ship can only be spawned once a week.
That's not entirely accurate. They did plenty to Planetside. They killed it with a complete lack of marketing, an utter refusal to fix some glaring balance issues, and an absolutely terrible strategy of trying to balance things by breaking everything but the one thing that needed to be fixed in the first place. From the bullshit that was the Jackhammer, especially when combined with surge, to the constant juggling and nerfing of the TR MAXs and the way they made the Stryker useless while making the Prowler the biggest, slowest target with only mediocre armor and firepower, the game was doomed from the start. When they ham fisted mechs into the game it was beyond saving.
You jest, but DNF was announced twelve years ago next month. It's not so much of a stretch to imagine it still being "in development" in twelve more years.
I don't think you realize just how much technology has changed since the days of Goldeneye 64 and Pokemon Red and Blue.
Back then multiplayer was you bringing your controller to your friend's house or connecting your Game Boy to your buddy's via link cable. The only time you'd ever play with someone that you didn't know was when you played Street Fighter at the arcade in the mall or movie theater. Handheld consoles had tiny screens that weren't backlit, which made playing in anything but ideal conditions nigh impossible, or they had bright color screens that were still small, but gave you about fifteen minutes of play time on eight AA batteries. Think about cell phones back then. There was no text messaging. There was no internet. Even an address book was a luxury that few had, and at the same time the phones were the same size as your cordless handset at home with barely more battery life than a Game Gear.
Now days every console has online play with people on the other side of the globe that you've never met. Every console has tons of additional content that can be downloaded. All of the consoles have wifi capability and wireless controllers. Even the DS and PSP have wifi built in. I can trade pokemon with some stranger clear on the other side of the country just as easily as I can battle a buddy in Iraq. Even then, the DS and PSP are several years old. Cell phone technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since they were brought to the market. The new Nintendo DSi has much more wifi functionality than the DS and DS Lite, two cameras, and onboard storage. Wireless connectivity between handheld consoles has been around since the GameBoy Color in the form of an IR port and actual wireless in the GameBoy Advance and DS.
Now to be fair, I only read the GEO story, but considering how far we've come in the past eleven years, everything the first scenario is easily achievable within five years, let alone eleven.
That's pretty optimistic of you.
Small child? You should see the ones in Texas! I've seen a mosquito eat a fully grown adult and still have room for his dog!
He sounds like most of the people I associate with. I dropped out of High School for the exact same reason and found that I was able to educate myself better by fucking off on the internet for the years that I would have been in High School than I was through most of Elementary School and Jr. High. When It takes a tenth grade English class a month to read To Kill A Mockingbird of all things and I was finished by the end of the second day of class, there is a problem.
A herd does nothing but harm itself as a whole by slowing to the speed of the sick and the weak. Let the morons that aren't learning fall behind. That's what special ed classes are for. Do not bring the people capable of learning down to their level. Definitely do not make the above average people hate school because they're bored out of their mind the whole time. Society isn't harmed because little Johnny is too stupid to read properly. There will always be a demand for burger flippers and manual laborers. On the other hand, society is harmed when Tommy decides that formal education is useless and doesn't finish high school and go to college to become an engineer and ends up working alongside Johnny instead.
I believe that the patent in question specifically applies to 3d environments. However, it only describes having what is basically an IRC window in a 3d environment. Think Second Life but with walls inhibiting the freedom of movement. Now given the prior existance of IRC, MUDs, and 3D games well before this patent was filed, it should be fairly easy to see that the combination of them is obvious and thus not patentable. I'm fairly sure that most sci-fi shows involving networked computers that were made prior to the patent would also show a chatroom with a 3d environment. Hell, even Futurama did it.