Not really, stealing a car is straight-up theft no matter whose car it is (even a family member's, if you don't have their permission). It's a bit different when a copyright holder is saying "Hey, downloaded our copyrighted material for free! Simply writing this statement is us giving you written permission to copy my copyrighted material! BTW we're going to scan your computer for files and store in our big database about everything you've got on your computer!"...
The iPhone critics are thinking "this is a fully-fledged handheld computer, running the same operating system as my laptop, that has been intentionally crippled to protect the artificial market segmentation desired by AT&T and Apple."
Heh.. The Pocket PC Phone critics are thinking "this is a fully-fledged handheld computer, running the same operating system as my laptop, that has been intentionally crippled to protect the artificial market segmentation desired by [provider] and Microsoft."
"the chance to examine and investigate the compositions and textures of exposed materials in the crater's depths for clues about ancient, wet environments."
Oh jeez... investigating and exploring the depths of ancient, wet environments?... This sounds like some kind of MILF joke gone wrong... *cringes*
Yes, I am pretty damn stoked! I played System Shock 2 and LOVED it. I haven't been this excited for a game since Myth: The Fallen Lords came out (that was in 1997)! Here's hoping it's every bit as great as I'm anticipating, and then some!;)
no Jr. High here in western Canada. I don't know. I noticed between gr 7/8 that kids were all dressing "cool" and trying to be "popular" and being about 500x more judgemental. All of the kids I used to be friends with started acting like I wasn't "cool" enough and I was too much of a geek, or something, I don't even know. I just saw everyone around me acting pretty damn superficial (or maybe they all always were, and I was just becoming more aware of it as I got older?)... Kind of just gradually increased and I was always a pretty nerdy kid to begin with, so I got made fun of in high school quite a lot (which had never happened in elementary school actually, at all). I also started things off pretty bad when I walked into the library one time to talk to a friend of mine and some guy went "Who's that Bryan, your little bum buddy?" to my friend, and I yelled something like "shut the fuck up!" to him (I was pretty astounded by this random assclown insulting my friend and I like that and rightly pissed, especially considering I was used to people greeting me with total friendliness as opposed to shit like that). Turns out this guy was some kind of y'know ultra-popular cool kid, star of the basketball team etc. I guess I'm supposed to just sit there and take any uncalled for insult and just ignore it? I was like 12 or something, come on. Yeah, fuck all that. I guess I instantly became some outcast loser because I wasn't friends with those fucktards. No loss, since it's not like I want to be associated with people who just dish out harsh insults for no apparent reason.
Come on, are you kidding? The big deal here is that a fairly appropriately-rated game that has had thousands of dollars and thousands of work-hours spent on it will never be published in its current form. This is one of the larger videogame development companies effectively being told "oh, sorry, your game won't be accepted for publishing on ANY PLATFORM because it's a bit harsher than some people are comfortable with - sorry you just spent years and $thousands+ developing it, but yeah have fun with that, thanks for coming out eh". That's a pretty fucking big deal, if you ask me.
I've been following this very closely. I find the "double standard" presented here amazing and disturbing. As I said in an earlier slashdot comment where I was feeling rather pissed off, it bothers me greatly that this game can be effectively banned from even being published because of a rating, while other extremely psychologically disturbing games (Silent Hill for example) are sold and available everywhere, undoubtedly being sold to people under the age of 17 or 18.
Personally I have a huge interest in these games that push the boundaries of what is socially/morally "acceptable". Going onto a bit of a tangent here but when I was 13, I bought the game Postal, which my parents totally amazingly allowed. I was of course happy as hell since I had played the beta and was STOKED about the extreme violence and harshness in this game! I was going through really rough times at school and had a really hard time handling it - until high school I was really socially accepted and quite popular, but that changed and became quite the opposite, which I had never dealt with before... Anyway so I pretty much took out my anger in games like Postal and Quake all the time. For me (and probably many others over the years), it was about the only option to deal with anger and stuff - either that or I'd end up kicking the shit out of people at school who picked on me. I'm pretty sure playing some violent video games (and hugely improving my hand-eye coordination and stuff) was a pretty good alternative to getting expelled or having some assault charges on my record, because I can guarantee some serious shit would've happened had I not had some non-harmful way to cope with how I was feeling.
OK, so my whole point is that these kind of "barely acceptable" games really gave me a chance to live out my anger in a harmless manner. It probably wasn't the most efficient way to deal with things but honestly being able to go into a virtual world and blow people away was a very satisfying experience. This stuff kept me from having anger build up to the point where I'd just resort to violence and end up snapping on some asshole fellow student one day. Yeah yeah, I can hear you saying "you just have anger issues" but considering I am doing totally fine now, it's pretty safe to say the school environment is what the root problem was here.;)
So, I'm not trying to say that games like Manhunt are going to keep kids from committing violent acts, but the point is that some people really value these types of games. Of course not everyone is going to value such a game the way I did back then (some will just find it entertaining in a less serious way), but...:
How are developers expected to push the boundaries of creativity and come up with games that challenge ideas and push the envelope, when they're just going to be told "oh, no platform in the world is going to release your game because some ratings board gave it the Adults Only rating"? Are we just going to be kept in a closed shell of only being provided with confirmist politically-correct entertianment for our entire lives, even as fully grown self-aware and responsible adults? Is it really acceptable that, despite the creative goals of some software developers (and huge $$ expenditure), we're not even being given the chance to experience or observe the creations of these people even if we have full interest in them?
It seems small enough of an issue when it's just some random guy on Slashdot saying it, but when you really take a minute to think about this, the implications regarding the video game & entertainment industry are quite serious...
OK, why does this game get "AO" rating (and completely banned from sale in multiple countries) while extremely disturbing games like Silent Hill cause no uproar? Seriously, I've never played games more psychologically disturbing and scary than the Silent Hill series. Along the same lines, movies like Saw are totally popular (and not banned) despite their excessively disturbing scenes (which all involve bloody violence and, again, psychologically disturbing situations). So, what's the deal?
I use Safari because Firefox on OS X has really unsmooth scrolling. It's pretty frustrating to have lines skip up and down, making you unable to follow the text as you scroll... Was a total deal-breaker for me. Well, that combined with the slower rendering times than what Safari offers.
My car was broken in to the other day and it pissed me off something fierce- but the worst part was the expense of having windows replaced, not anything that was actually stolen.
I have a friend who always leaves her jeep unlocked for this very reason - she'd rather someone just open the door (you know, so the street person can grab their $0.37 in change on the car floor), rather than having to pay tons of cash to have a window replaced. She wasn't too worried about someone stealing the jeep anyway because it would be easy to steal whether she locked the doors or not;)
I played WoW and Quake 4 on my Mac Mini, which was the first generation of intel-powered ones, featuring a 1.5ghz Core Solo cpu (and the lame intel integrated graphics)
Sure, sure. You have exactly the rationale that is ideal for corporate-minded politicians to keep themselves in power: "Oh, hey, this isn't too bad, getting searched at the movie theatre isn't nearly as bad as having DMCA-like laws in Canada!"... Sure, it's the "lesser of two evils", but why are we just passively accepting the "lesser evil"?
It's a perfectly good value. You can drop a Core 2 Duo Quad-Core into the Mac Mini no problem. Sell your old Core Solo on craigslist or ebay or whatever and you just got a fucking quad-core machine for $600-700...
What, are you for real? Holy fuck. I have not seen these in western Canada (Vancouver). Makes me want to go see a movie, and then ask them what the fuck law they think gives them permission to search my shit.
Considering, just posting a random sign with tiny text that says "Oh hey guys BTW when you buy a ticket you're also giving us permission to look through your pockets/bag/purse" doesn't actually make that an even vaguely binding contract of any sort... I mean, if this was the case, they could say "By purchasing a ticket, you are consenting to us beating your ass down and throwing you into a pit of angry wolves", or something.
Just because some random fucking piece of text is written on the wall next to you doesn't mean you legally agree to it whatsoever.
Yeah, next time I see a movie I'm bringing my digital camera with me. It's not a camcorder, but it can record 640x480 video at 30fps. Hmm altough at the same time, if they've gone through some action to be aware that I'm even carrying it (it's only 1cm thick and I keep it in my pocket), I'll have a lot more to complain about than simply being disallowed entry. If they ask to see what I have I'll most definitely have to show them the camera alongside, you know, my car keys and pocket change and all that good stuff. Ahhh this is sounding more fun the more I think about it. OK guys I'm off to see a movie, later !
Yeah, this is actually awesome. I can't wait to hear the complaints about peoples' nice relaxing moviegoing experience being totally ruined by police rushing in and apprehending some random guy sitting at the back with a camcorder (or even better, some person who doesn't even have a camcorder but rather some other kind of electronic device that the movie theatre employee thought must be some high-tech video recording device)... Woooot just another reason to make people pissed off at the movie industry - not only do they already feel ripped off paying $15 to see some rehashed piece of Hollywood crap (that looked great in the trailer), but now their trip to the theatre will be interrupted by authorities rushing in and apprehending the 15 year old kid next to them.
Slashdot Mirror
And just what have you got against revenge?
Heh. As cliche as it might be.. an "eye for an eye" leaves the world blind...
Not really, stealing a car is straight-up theft no matter whose car it is (even a family member's, if you don't have their permission). It's a bit different when a copyright holder is saying "Hey, downloaded our copyrighted material for free! Simply writing this statement is us giving you written permission to copy my copyrighted material! BTW we're going to scan your computer for files and store in our big database about everything you've got on your computer!" ...
Offering something to download and install on your computer to increase the speed? That practically screams 'malware'.
Yeah, that's what I thought about Fileplanet, too...
The iPhone critics are thinking "this is a fully-fledged handheld computer, running the same operating system as my laptop, that has been intentionally crippled to protect the artificial market segmentation desired by AT&T and Apple."
Heh.. The Pocket PC Phone critics are thinking "this is a fully-fledged handheld computer, running the same operating system as my laptop, that has been intentionally crippled to protect the artificial market segmentation desired by [provider] and Microsoft."
Yeah I was gunna add that in there but figured I'd keep it simple ;) haha
"the chance to examine and investigate the compositions and textures of exposed materials in the crater's depths for clues about ancient, wet environments."
Oh jeez... investigating and exploring the depths of ancient, wet environments?... This sounds like some kind of MILF joke gone wrong... *cringes*
Yes, I am pretty damn stoked! I played System Shock 2 and LOVED it. I haven't been this excited for a game since Myth: The Fallen Lords came out (that was in 1997)! Here's hoping it's every bit as great as I'm anticipating, and then some! ;)
no Jr. High here in western Canada. I don't know. I noticed between gr 7/8 that kids were all dressing "cool" and trying to be "popular" and being about 500x more judgemental. All of the kids I used to be friends with started acting like I wasn't "cool" enough and I was too much of a geek, or something, I don't even know. I just saw everyone around me acting pretty damn superficial (or maybe they all always were, and I was just becoming more aware of it as I got older?)... Kind of just gradually increased and I was always a pretty nerdy kid to begin with, so I got made fun of in high school quite a lot (which had never happened in elementary school actually, at all). I also started things off pretty bad when I walked into the library one time to talk to a friend of mine and some guy went "Who's that Bryan, your little bum buddy?" to my friend, and I yelled something like "shut the fuck up!" to him (I was pretty astounded by this random assclown insulting my friend and I like that and rightly pissed, especially considering I was used to people greeting me with total friendliness as opposed to shit like that). Turns out this guy was some kind of y'know ultra-popular cool kid, star of the basketball team etc. I guess I'm supposed to just sit there and take any uncalled for insult and just ignore it? I was like 12 or something, come on. Yeah, fuck all that. I guess I instantly became some outcast loser because I wasn't friends with those fucktards. No loss, since it's not like I want to be associated with people who just dish out harsh insults for no apparent reason.
Come on, are you kidding? The big deal here is that a fairly appropriately-rated game that has had thousands of dollars and thousands of work-hours spent on it will never be published in its current form. This is one of the larger videogame development companies effectively being told "oh, sorry, your game won't be accepted for publishing on ANY PLATFORM because it's a bit harsher than some people are comfortable with - sorry you just spent years and $thousands+ developing it, but yeah have fun with that, thanks for coming out eh". That's a pretty fucking big deal, if you ask me.
I've been following this very closely. I find the "double standard" presented here amazing and disturbing. As I said in an earlier slashdot comment where I was feeling rather pissed off, it bothers me greatly that this game can be effectively banned from even being published because of a rating, while other extremely psychologically disturbing games (Silent Hill for example) are sold and available everywhere, undoubtedly being sold to people under the age of 17 or 18.
;)
Personally I have a huge interest in these games that push the boundaries of what is socially/morally "acceptable". Going onto a bit of a tangent here but when I was 13, I bought the game Postal, which my parents totally amazingly allowed. I was of course happy as hell since I had played the beta and was STOKED about the extreme violence and harshness in this game! I was going through really rough times at school and had a really hard time handling it - until high school I was really socially accepted and quite popular, but that changed and became quite the opposite, which I had never dealt with before... Anyway so I pretty much took out my anger in games like Postal and Quake all the time. For me (and probably many others over the years), it was about the only option to deal with anger and stuff - either that or I'd end up kicking the shit out of people at school who picked on me. I'm pretty sure playing some violent video games (and hugely improving my hand-eye coordination and stuff) was a pretty good alternative to getting expelled or having some assault charges on my record, because I can guarantee some serious shit would've happened had I not had some non-harmful way to cope with how I was feeling.
OK, so my whole point is that these kind of "barely acceptable" games really gave me a chance to live out my anger in a harmless manner. It probably wasn't the most efficient way to deal with things but honestly being able to go into a virtual world and blow people away was a very satisfying experience. This stuff kept me from having anger build up to the point where I'd just resort to violence and end up snapping on some asshole fellow student one day. Yeah yeah, I can hear you saying "you just have anger issues" but considering I am doing totally fine now, it's pretty safe to say the school environment is what the root problem was here.
So, I'm not trying to say that games like Manhunt are going to keep kids from committing violent acts, but the point is that some people really value these types of games. Of course not everyone is going to value such a game the way I did back then (some will just find it entertaining in a less serious way), but...:
How are developers expected to push the boundaries of creativity and come up with games that challenge ideas and push the envelope, when they're just going to be told "oh, no platform in the world is going to release your game because some ratings board gave it the Adults Only rating"? Are we just going to be kept in a closed shell of only being provided with confirmist politically-correct entertianment for our entire lives, even as fully grown self-aware and responsible adults? Is it really acceptable that, despite the creative goals of some software developers (and huge $$ expenditure), we're not even being given the chance to experience or observe the creations of these people even if we have full interest in them?
It seems small enough of an issue when it's just some random guy on Slashdot saying it, but when you really take a minute to think about this, the implications regarding the video game & entertainment industry are quite serious...
What about the timbits??
OK, why does this game get "AO" rating (and completely banned from sale in multiple countries) while extremely disturbing games like Silent Hill cause no uproar? Seriously, I've never played games more psychologically disturbing and scary than the Silent Hill series. Along the same lines, movies like Saw are totally popular (and not banned) despite their excessively disturbing scenes (which all involve bloody violence and, again, psychologically disturbing situations). So, what's the deal?
I use Safari because Firefox on OS X has really unsmooth scrolling. It's pretty frustrating to have lines skip up and down, making you unable to follow the text as you scroll... Was a total deal-breaker for me. Well, that combined with the slower rendering times than what Safari offers.
yup, I just read it as that when reading your post! ;)
"And it really doesn't compromise your privacy."
Registering my personal trip plans with the government doesn't compromise my privacy? Fuck off. What a bloody joke.
My car was broken in to the other day and it pissed me off something fierce- but the worst part was the expense of having windows replaced, not anything that was actually stolen.
;)
I have a friend who always leaves her jeep unlocked for this very reason - she'd rather someone just open the door (you know, so the street person can grab their $0.37 in change on the car floor), rather than having to pay tons of cash to have a window replaced. She wasn't too worried about someone stealing the jeep anyway because it would be easy to steal whether she locked the doors or not
I played WoW and Quake 4 on my Mac Mini, which was the first generation of intel-powered ones, featuring a 1.5ghz Core Solo cpu (and the lame intel integrated graphics)
Works ok, just not great or anything.
Pretty much same situation with me, man. Use my Windows PC for games, chat, web browsing, and use my Mac(s) for audio engineering and production...
Case in point: the Krupps...
Sure, sure. You have exactly the rationale that is ideal for corporate-minded politicians to keep themselves in power: "Oh, hey, this isn't too bad, getting searched at the movie theatre isn't nearly as bad as having DMCA-like laws in Canada!" ... Sure, it's the "lesser of two evils", but why are we just passively accepting the "lesser evil"?
I'll just keep saying it... Fuck the RIAA.
Come on, are you kidding me?
t s/2006/10.13.06/25424_g1.jpg
Dell Dimenson C521: http://images.pcworld.com/reviews/graphics/produc
Mac Mini: http://www.notmike.com/images/new_macmini.jpg
It's a perfectly good value. You can drop a Core 2 Duo Quad-Core into the Mac Mini no problem. Sell your old Core Solo on craigslist or ebay or whatever and you just got a fucking quad-core machine for $600-700...
What, are you for real? Holy fuck. I have not seen these in western Canada (Vancouver). Makes me want to go see a movie, and then ask them what the fuck law they think gives them permission to search my shit.
Considering, just posting a random sign with tiny text that says "Oh hey guys BTW when you buy a ticket you're also giving us permission to look through your pockets/bag/purse" doesn't actually make that an even vaguely binding contract of any sort... I mean, if this was the case, they could say "By purchasing a ticket, you are consenting to us beating your ass down and throwing you into a pit of angry wolves", or something.
Just because some random fucking piece of text is written on the wall next to you doesn't mean you legally agree to it whatsoever.
Yeah, next time I see a movie I'm bringing my digital camera with me. It's not a camcorder, but it can record 640x480 video at 30fps. Hmm altough at the same time, if they've gone through some action to be aware that I'm even carrying it (it's only 1cm thick and I keep it in my pocket), I'll have a lot more to complain about than simply being disallowed entry. If they ask to see what I have I'll most definitely have to show them the camera alongside, you know, my car keys and pocket change and all that good stuff. Ahhh this is sounding more fun the more I think about it. OK guys I'm off to see a movie, later !
Yeah, this is actually awesome. I can't wait to hear the complaints about peoples' nice relaxing moviegoing experience being totally ruined by police rushing in and apprehending some random guy sitting at the back with a camcorder (or even better, some person who doesn't even have a camcorder but rather some other kind of electronic device that the movie theatre employee thought must be some high-tech video recording device)... Woooot just another reason to make people pissed off at the movie industry - not only do they already feel ripped off paying $15 to see some rehashed piece of Hollywood crap (that looked great in the trailer), but now their trip to the theatre will be interrupted by authorities rushing in and apprehending the 15 year old kid next to them.