"Nuts" is an interesting way to describe a writing system with four alphabets, two of which have 35 characters each (not counting the and '' modifiers), one of which (romaji) is used basically to insert random english words into songs to make them make even less sense than they would in japanese, and one of which has tens of thousands of characters and which is basically impossible to really learn if you didn't grow up in Japan or China. Oddly enough, katakana and hiragana really aren't that hard to pick up and use with a little practice, but god, forget about kanji if you weren't born knowing it.
I took a couple of years of japanese in college, and I know enough to stumble my way through native manga (relying heavily on the furigana). I bought a copy of the first Harry Potter book in japanese and barely got past the first sentence.
I think it's not really an issue of the language being difficult in and of itself, but rather that the difficulty of learning to communicate in a foreign language increases with physical and cultural distance. It's not that it's impossible for a westerner to learn to think in terms of social hierarchy, just that it requires concious effort and that unless you're constantly in situations that require that kind of thinking, you won't be likely to retain it.
..are the way it: a) Requires you to validate windows to install, b) Requires a reboot, and c) Actually attempts to pass off things like tabbed browsing and a search bar as innovative (really, take a look at the "demo" they bring you to when you first install it).
I'm not asking them to spend money advertising the fact that they're way behind the curve on browsers, just to stop lying to me.
ok, not that I haven't found the discussion of total weight loss plans useful, but to answer the original question here:
if you've never played ddr before, just go to eb and buy a cheap $20 soft pad and a copy of ddrmax/max2 if you have a ps2, or konamix if you have a ps1, or ultramix if you have an xbox, and just start playing. it's easier to just get started if you buy an official mix, and it will avoid a lot of excuses for putting off trying the game (waiting for the adapter to hook up the pads to your comp, searching for songs you want to play, mucking with all the settings in stepmania...).
as for pads, the more expensive ones are more or less necessary when you start trying to play harder songs (pretty much anything over 7 feet), but starting out, you will most likely be struggling with the most basic songs on whatever mix you get. just keep in mind that it's just about impossible to play with a soft mat on a carpet, so that may affect your choice.
also, if you can find someone else to play with, it becomes a hell of a lot more fun. but regardless of whether you're alone or in a group or whatever, just deal with the fact that you're going to be terrible at first and keep trying. you WILL eventually get it.
Slashdot Mirror
"Nuts" is an interesting way to describe a writing system with four alphabets, two of which have 35 characters each (not counting the and '' modifiers), one of which (romaji) is used basically to insert random english words into songs to make them make even less sense than they would in japanese, and one of which has tens of thousands of characters and which is basically impossible to really learn if you didn't grow up in Japan or China. Oddly enough, katakana and hiragana really aren't that hard to pick up and use with a little practice, but god, forget about kanji if you weren't born knowing it. I took a couple of years of japanese in college, and I know enough to stumble my way through native manga (relying heavily on the furigana). I bought a copy of the first Harry Potter book in japanese and barely got past the first sentence. I think it's not really an issue of the language being difficult in and of itself, but rather that the difficulty of learning to communicate in a foreign language increases with physical and cultural distance. It's not that it's impossible for a westerner to learn to think in terms of social hierarchy, just that it requires concious effort and that unless you're constantly in situations that require that kind of thinking, you won't be likely to retain it.
..are the way it: a) Requires you to validate windows to install, b) Requires a reboot, and c) Actually attempts to pass off things like tabbed browsing and a search bar as innovative (really, take a look at the "demo" they bring you to when you first install it).
I'm not asking them to spend money advertising the fact that they're way behind the curve on browsers, just to stop lying to me.
ok, not that I haven't found the discussion of total weight loss plans useful, but to answer the original question here:
if you've never played ddr before, just go to eb and buy a cheap $20 soft pad and a copy of ddrmax/max2 if you have a ps2, or konamix if you have a ps1, or ultramix if you have an xbox, and just start playing. it's easier to just get started if you buy an official mix, and it will avoid a lot of excuses for putting off trying the game (waiting for the adapter to hook up the pads to your comp, searching for songs you want to play, mucking with all the settings in stepmania...).
as for pads, the more expensive ones are more or less necessary when you start trying to play harder songs (pretty much anything over 7 feet), but starting out, you will most likely be struggling with the most basic songs on whatever mix you get. just keep in mind that it's just about impossible to play with a soft mat on a carpet, so that may affect your choice.
also, if you can find someone else to play with, it becomes a hell of a lot more fun. but regardless of whether you're alone or in a group or whatever, just deal with the fact that you're going to be terrible at first and keep trying. you WILL eventually get it.
oh, and good luck ^_^