Instead of looking at the old models which is "Please give us money so you can enjoy what we make", we need to switch it round so it's more like the musicians on the street (or Jonathan Coulton if you perfer), so "heres my music, I hope you like it. If you like it would you mind giving me some money so I can continue to play?"
Instead of asking for money for something you ask for money so you can continue to do something. The problem with this is things become their real value (instead of super expensive things because of some famous name attached) and the low level bottom feeders (middle men) just get in the way of the system.
So in short. DRM is holding evolution back by shooting the bald monkeys, the few that escape get to evolve and become another thing entirely, which may or may not be a better set of monkeys. Sorry it's not cars, but it makes sense in my head at least.
But you're shooting yourself in the foot at the same time because you forget the basic function of schools.
Schools are ment to make you a "normal well rounded person", which means teachers often have to teach several subjects (in my primary school we had 6 teachers whole, most of them had a PC in their room but they weren't even remotely familar with them). These teachers are a jack of all trades and a master of none. They don't much care for computers and use them only when they have to and act just like the PA types you described.
Teachers use what they know and just stick to it. If you force them to learn all the differences between multipule computer systems it draws time away from A, their personal lives or B, their school work.
I hate to say this and people never listen, but Linux is not the solution to everything (again nor are macs), it won't be for another 5-10 years before kids like me start teaching, when we grew up with this and can adapt, teachers today are 30-60ish, which is from an era where PCs weren't common for all and they arn't comfortable with them.
Well the biggest problem I've had is that any forums I goto I get accused of being a pirate for one. It's the same error the early priated version has, but they found a fix for it, where as Valve isn't fixing it.. WTF is that?
Since I picked up Ep 1 I've had nothing but trouble with it, Valve tech support has been little more than a joke and I'm still waiting for a patch to fix the basic things. How urgent is it to fix a major bug which stops scripts (this means you can't play at all) running? Acording to Valve it's not even remotely important, since they'd rather quick fix a hard part of the game then releasing a real patch so I can play the damn game.
I gave Valve a chance with HL2, I gave them another chance with episode 1. Now I've run out of good will and I just want my damn games to run out of the box (should note there was a bug to even INSTALL it which required a work around). So Ep 2 can come out now or never for all I care. Untill Valve get decent tech support which does more than direct you to the FAQ you use to contact them I'll take a look again, but untill then I can find enough HL2 mods to last me till the end of time.
Thats why I said the above games. In SRW all you need to know is "Super robot are hard to damage, real robots are hard to hit" everything is more or less contained within that.
Advance wars is a bit simpler and easier to find. But as we've both pointed out theres more options.
Why do people always want to dumb down games? RTS and games based around the general idea are always going to be complex and require you to do a lot of clicking, it's in their nature and always will be. These games are liked and designed by the same sort of people, they want to be able to control every little detail and they don't mind if you don't because yo can have your other games.
Sounds to me like the article writer needs to pick up Advance wars or Super robot taisen games. Both are turn based strategy and in at least SRW's case you sort out your units in menus between missions and then "ingame" you only have to pick it you want to use a special ability, where your units move and what attacks/how they respond to being attacked.
But then this is comming from a guy who struggles to keep track of his economy in RTS games, so maybe I'm not seeing the bigger picture and just "accept I'm not great at everything", but that doesn't mean I want to change things so I'm better.
What they really mean is "blogs caught onto a fad on imageboards". Places like 4chan have for months now been posting pictures based on Snakes on a plane. To the point where the hype died down before the movie was even out.
Then the "secondary" level started where it got to the "mass market" and we started to see shit on youtube for example. This secondary phase continued up untill the movies release. So the press assumed all the "hip kids" were on youtube, when the truth is youtube is like MySpace. It's full of sheep not leaders.
Either way it was a B movie which would of been totally ignored and bombed, thanks to all the hype it's become a number 1.
Is it just me or is Google the next MS? It seems instead of sitting in their own little pond (Online technology) they're slowing worming their way into everything else. Maybe it is just me.. but I sure as hell don't like it and "do no evil" does not imply the next guy along the line doesn't want to be evil.
I'd like to see them include some more Pokemon characters. Maybe have a Zangoose (would be a great speedy brawler) or a Farfetch'd/Marowak who would use a club and a boomerang style attack system.
Maybe even include some Digimon (Bandai arn't too harsh with their licencing) where you digivolved every time you beat another player. That way if you could rack up say 4 kills you would become quite powerful and instead of all going at it suddenly you'd be the main target.
If we're talking game characters (even though the above have been in more games than a lot would even realize) I'd like to see Bomberman (old school) included, with alternative skins to include the Punk, cowboy and maybe the female bomber from 3.
A Koopa troopa would be cool, they could even include a variety of shells on a level, so you can change your powers by jumping into them (Use the mario world system for this, it's simple and everyone knows whats going on).
What I would really like to see expanded though is the maps. Melee was full of small maps where you had no real tactics other than to spam your best moves if you played more than 1 on 1. Where as some larger maps like Hyrule Castle would make for a weapon change.
But then I suppose my "real" hope is they include some of the Mana series. Even if it's only making a kameo where Rabites appear in some level.
When you start running (I do it for fun and for my guild mates), you really start to look at maps and plan mentally where you're going to go. This applies to "real world" maps as well. Instead of "oh did I miss my turn?" it becomes "left left, follow the coast, third turn, fourth turn" and even sign posts don't seem to be very important because your memory has got so good at remembering paths.
I believe you're in a different world to me because last time I checked in the UK at least for the last 20 years you've bought a licence to own/watch/etc. the media but the content it's self. That is why we have disclaimers like "This video is not for resale or rent. Public views are not allowed" etc.
Maybe you live in some fictional world where these sort of things arn't common as hell.
I'd argue the point on some games which clearly go "this is going to be hard, don't even think it won't" like Devil may cry on DMD mode. But then most of these games also have much easier modes and allow you to get the game on a difficulty you want while still giving us "veterans" (ahem) a good seeing to if we want them to.
I think the problem with "todays hardness" is they have to do something a bit more each time. So where in say Doom you had to shoot your way out of problems, now we have to take it to a step beyond where you have to fight twice as many things and dodge around a maze at the same time. Think of it like feature creep, every game must add a new thing or extend something and so we've got to the point where we're forcing people to write entire books when all they want to do is write a quick note.
Personally I love hard games where they are straight out honest and go "we're going to screw you over, but if you're good enough you can still win", but I can see people who won't like that sort of thing. Back in the PSX era we had games which were better suited to the "other" (as opposed to me) type like Tomb raider, where you spent a lot of time exploring a little fighting or survival horror games which weren't action based (RE4 is action based IMO) which had their own set of skills required. Where did all these goto? They weren't hard once you got the hang of them, they just required you to hold your nerve and take risks (which games today don't seem to do).
But I'm drifting off course. The point is games arn't any harder, they just require more history to get into. In some cases this is good (RPGs) and in others it's bad (platformers etc.)
I'm sorry what world do you live in..? D-pads and sticks very rarely have to be used together, so we just moved our thumbs from the D-pad to the left stick and TA DAR problem solved. Other than the D-pad-analog stick thing I've not seen pads change since the SNES. Hell I can't remember when I used the R3 button on my PS2 or the C stick on my cube.
The buttons are there incase the designers want to use them, that doesn't mean EVERY game uses all of them at once.
I'm a gamer and the Wiimote to me seems kind of a turn off. Don't really want it, but then I remember going "wow that touch screen is going to be so useless". Now I have to say I love my DS and the dual screens is insanely useful. The Wii will do the same, they'll have a rough start but people will soon get the hand of it and see how it should be used and then we'll open up entirely new genres, give us stuff we've always dreamed of (light saber fights are a hit with everyone).
So what is "I'm so hardcore I must have one of every console" doesn't dig the Wii. Thre are other options for them, but the Wii is going to be just like the gamecube as far as I can see. It won't be "teh uber popular" it won't be the strongest, but when you just want some fun and games you'll turn it on and get exactly what it said on the box.
As for the FPS comment.. Well when the hell did a console do FPS well? (STFU Halo fans before you even start). PCs are always better than consoles at FPS and RTS because they were more or less designed for their unique controls.
On the other hand think of playing something like Bushido blade with the Wii or a Zombie invasion style game where you have to fight off zombies as you escape the city or whatever.
Oh and are you forgetting the gamecube controller plugs straight into the Wiimote so we can play the "classic" style games at the same time?
In ways I agree but in other ways I disagree. The spin dash added an extra move which changed the gameplay for the better in ways. It stopped you having to run back to gain speed to make loops in some cases, which made the whole game flow a bit better. It was also possible to use it to make puzzles (aka not getting squished) a bit harder and need better timing (instead of pure luck or waiting and hoping you were fast enough walking).
I also perfer Sonic 2's level design and entire feel better. To me Sonic 2 is the peak of Sonic before it started to get silly (although I admit I like the original sonic adventure). I like one but theres some levels which just feel out of place (Spring yard and scrap brain for example).
One thing people forget about Sonic is it doesn't feel like anything else. Mario seems gritty (yes I know, magic mushrooms etc.) and has a very "drug enduced but simple" style. Where as Sonic's always been "Screw it, this looks fun and cool lets put it in". So instead of "wow it's a mountain" you get cool stuff like dancing flowers, totem poles and weird animal robots (Which they not destroyed just to make Gundam refrences in Sonic games.. great idea guys..). Sonic was onnly ever 50% gameplay if you watch carefully. The loops and spins added very little to the game but they define what Sonic is.. Makes you wonder if Sonic really was just a "Platformer" or if it was one of the earliest "true" artistic games.
Wikis are great at things which involve facts where no one gains anything from lies (See Guildwiki for example).
Wikis are bad when millions of dollars are involved and anyone can edit them. It only takes some "unknown person" who "doesn't have anything to do with the company" to goto the wiki and repeatedly edit it so it seems the patent is invalid or worthless and it may just seem that way (yes I know theres checks). Look at viral marketing and Sony's "lets graffiti shit to look cool" idea, notice how companies don't care how much money they spend just so they can look cool? Well what if they could pay some kid a couple of bucks a week to edit a wiki which could influence major things down the line... Yep you guessed it, they'll eat it up.
People need to register "Use the right tool for the right job" rather than "Wow it's open source! I bet I can use this system to fix everything in the world! Cancer/World hunger/Wars I've got your number bitch!"
Why would that be classed as respect? The way I read it he came across like a manager would, he's more important just because he's there..
Respect to me is when you go "well fuck me, he really did do that, thats pretty awesome" after someones done something to admire. Where as just not being an asshole is a basic requirement of being a decent person.
If you keep any mod above -1 I've officially lost faith in the Slashdot moderation system.
echidnae put it in words better than I ever could, so I suggest you read his post.
Also just so we're clear here, parents know jackshit about their children's true mental healthy and developement. As much as people like to go "oh my kids fine, he's doing great and everything!" more often than not they hardly know their kids. Kids have never been 100% honest with their parents and the last people they want to talk to about stuff is them. It's easy to keep a shell to hide the screwed up stuff from.
Also to point out. Your kids would get no respect what so ever from me if they demanded it. I'll be polite and I won't fuck people over, but if you start demanding ANYTHING I will go out of my way to take that high horse's knee caps out and sit you on your ass. People should act decently, but respect should be given when it's earnt and for a good reason. If you demand respect for just breathing or being in the same location than me then you've got one hell of an ego and you're going to piss off more people than you could ever dream of.
I'd call it manager ego. You think you're important because someones told you so, but really you're just another lacky with a fake title and the second someone gets a chance to remind you of it they will. Same thing goes for you from the sounds of it..
Hey I've got karma to burn, I can throw around a little unpopular opinion.:)
You sir are a bad parent. I don't care what you say or what you do other than the above, but you're not only making your kids want to bully others (yes you are, if I hit person Y we both get punished. Why not hit person Y when I WANT them punished?).
My dad always used to say "stand up for yourself, kick the shit out of that bully" and I did. I leveled 7 guys in 1 fight and they never picked on me again. Didn't stop another person comming along and doing it though, only time it stopped is when my brother's friends (read : Rugby team 5 years older) found out and kicked the shit out of the new kids. And the reason I got bullied wasn't for my disability (I have shit legs) or my geeky nature, it was just because I was a person in the right place at the right time (read : Playground). But will that stop the next bully or should I always answer with my fists? Some times it's better to take a kick to the groin and learn from it than to "stick up for yourself". Something your kids are going to struggle to accept.
Also may I ask you what you would tell your daughter if she got raped? Would you go "wow you have a vagina! So your fault!" or would you sit down, eat your humble pie and learn that SHIT HAPPENS PREPARED OR NOT?
Didn't the DS already pass every single test to do with the older generation gaming? We've never seen a console sell to mothers more than kids before but the DS has single handedly got thousands of mothers playing Nintendogs, brain age and whatever other games they picked up.
Using the 360 to judge if the mass market is into the new gaming era is like using a people carrier to judge if people like fast cars. It makes no sense when we have something with a very clear cut answers right infront of us.
I happen to read Katakana and I'm working on Hiragana.. There is no R or L sound in Japanese, the both are combind to be the same sound. Hence Ru and Lu are the same thing but in this case I used Lu as it made more sense in the context.
Go for it. Print out a dozen fliers (hell I'd be happy to make them if you can't use photoshop) and paste them up around the area, put up some signs and such. You could really piss off the RIAA and get some news coverage if you do it well enough (or have friends to help).
Slashdot Mirror
Instead of looking at the old models which is "Please give us money so you can enjoy what we make", we need to switch it round so it's more like the musicians on the street (or Jonathan Coulton if you perfer), so "heres my music, I hope you like it. If you like it would you mind giving me some money so I can continue to play?"
Instead of asking for money for something you ask for money so you can continue to do something. The problem with this is things become their real value (instead of super expensive things because of some famous name attached) and the low level bottom feeders (middle men) just get in the way of the system.
So in short. DRM is holding evolution back by shooting the bald monkeys, the few that escape get to evolve and become another thing entirely, which may or may not be a better set of monkeys. Sorry it's not cars, but it makes sense in my head at least.
But you're shooting yourself in the foot at the same time because you forget the basic function of schools.
Schools are ment to make you a "normal well rounded person", which means teachers often have to teach several subjects (in my primary school we had 6 teachers whole, most of them had a PC in their room but they weren't even remotely familar with them). These teachers are a jack of all trades and a master of none. They don't much care for computers and use them only when they have to and act just like the PA types you described.
Teachers use what they know and just stick to it. If you force them to learn all the differences between multipule computer systems it draws time away from A, their personal lives or B, their school work.
I hate to say this and people never listen, but Linux is not the solution to everything (again nor are macs), it won't be for another 5-10 years before kids like me start teaching, when we grew up with this and can adapt, teachers today are 30-60ish, which is from an era where PCs weren't common for all and they arn't comfortable with them.
Well the biggest problem I've had is that any forums I goto I get accused of being a pirate for one. It's the same error the early priated version has, but they found a fix for it, where as Valve isn't fixing it.. WTF is that?
X &oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=datacache+dll+ half+life+2&spell=1 Google link for the easiest way to ID the problem.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&sa=
I honestly don't care.
Since I picked up Ep 1 I've had nothing but trouble with it, Valve tech support has been little more than a joke and I'm still waiting for a patch to fix the basic things. How urgent is it to fix a major bug which stops scripts (this means you can't play at all) running? Acording to Valve it's not even remotely important, since they'd rather quick fix a hard part of the game then releasing a real patch so I can play the damn game.
I gave Valve a chance with HL2, I gave them another chance with episode 1. Now I've run out of good will and I just want my damn games to run out of the box (should note there was a bug to even INSTALL it which required a work around). So Ep 2 can come out now or never for all I care. Untill Valve get decent tech support which does more than direct you to the FAQ you use to contact them I'll take a look again, but untill then I can find enough HL2 mods to last me till the end of time.
Thats why I said the above games. In SRW all you need to know is "Super robot are hard to damage, real robots are hard to hit" everything is more or less contained within that.
Advance wars is a bit simpler and easier to find. But as we've both pointed out theres more options.
Why do people always want to dumb down games? RTS and games based around the general idea are always going to be complex and require you to do a lot of clicking, it's in their nature and always will be. These games are liked and designed by the same sort of people, they want to be able to control every little detail and they don't mind if you don't because yo can have your other games.
Sounds to me like the article writer needs to pick up Advance wars or Super robot taisen games. Both are turn based strategy and in at least SRW's case you sort out your units in menus between missions and then "ingame" you only have to pick it you want to use a special ability, where your units move and what attacks/how they respond to being attacked.
But then this is comming from a guy who struggles to keep track of his economy in RTS games, so maybe I'm not seeing the bigger picture and just "accept I'm not great at everything", but that doesn't mean I want to change things so I'm better.
What they really mean is "blogs caught onto a fad on imageboards". Places like 4chan have for months now been posting pictures based on Snakes on a plane. To the point where the hype died down before the movie was even out.
Then the "secondary" level started where it got to the "mass market" and we started to see shit on youtube for example. This secondary phase continued up untill the movies release. So the press assumed all the "hip kids" were on youtube, when the truth is youtube is like MySpace. It's full of sheep not leaders.
Either way it was a B movie which would of been totally ignored and bombed, thanks to all the hype it's become a number 1.
Is it just me or is Google the next MS? It seems instead of sitting in their own little pond (Online technology) they're slowing worming their way into everything else. Maybe it is just me.. but I sure as hell don't like it and "do no evil" does not imply the next guy along the line doesn't want to be evil.
I'd like to see them include some more Pokemon characters. Maybe have a Zangoose (would be a great speedy brawler) or a Farfetch'd/Marowak who would use a club and a boomerang style attack system.
Maybe even include some Digimon (Bandai arn't too harsh with their licencing) where you digivolved every time you beat another player. That way if you could rack up say 4 kills you would become quite powerful and instead of all going at it suddenly you'd be the main target.
If we're talking game characters (even though the above have been in more games than a lot would even realize) I'd like to see Bomberman (old school) included, with alternative skins to include the Punk, cowboy and maybe the female bomber from 3.
A Koopa troopa would be cool, they could even include a variety of shells on a level, so you can change your powers by jumping into them (Use the mario world system for this, it's simple and everyone knows whats going on).
What I would really like to see expanded though is the maps. Melee was full of small maps where you had no real tactics other than to spam your best moves if you played more than 1 on 1. Where as some larger maps like Hyrule Castle would make for a weapon change.
But then I suppose my "real" hope is they include some of the Mana series. Even if it's only making a kameo where Rabites appear in some level.
Baby? WTF are you on about?
They're called Super deformed and have been around for decades.
Don't forget map reading skills.
When you start running (I do it for fun and for my guild mates), you really start to look at maps and plan mentally where you're going to go. This applies to "real world" maps as well. Instead of "oh did I miss my turn?" it becomes "left left, follow the coast, third turn, fourth turn" and even sign posts don't seem to be very important because your memory has got so good at remembering paths.
I believe you're in a different world to me because last time I checked in the UK at least for the last 20 years you've bought a licence to own/watch/etc. the media but the content it's self. That is why we have disclaimers like "This video is not for resale or rent. Public views are not allowed" etc.
Maybe you live in some fictional world where these sort of things arn't common as hell.
I'd argue the point on some games which clearly go "this is going to be hard, don't even think it won't" like Devil may cry on DMD mode. But then most of these games also have much easier modes and allow you to get the game on a difficulty you want while still giving us "veterans" (ahem) a good seeing to if we want them to.
I think the problem with "todays hardness" is they have to do something a bit more each time. So where in say Doom you had to shoot your way out of problems, now we have to take it to a step beyond where you have to fight twice as many things and dodge around a maze at the same time. Think of it like feature creep, every game must add a new thing or extend something and so we've got to the point where we're forcing people to write entire books when all they want to do is write a quick note.
Personally I love hard games where they are straight out honest and go "we're going to screw you over, but if you're good enough you can still win", but I can see people who won't like that sort of thing. Back in the PSX era we had games which were better suited to the "other" (as opposed to me) type like Tomb raider, where you spent a lot of time exploring a little fighting or survival horror games which weren't action based (RE4 is action based IMO) which had their own set of skills required. Where did all these goto? They weren't hard once you got the hang of them, they just required you to hold your nerve and take risks (which games today don't seem to do).
But I'm drifting off course. The point is games arn't any harder, they just require more history to get into. In some cases this is good (RPGs) and in others it's bad (platformers etc.)
I'm sorry what world do you live in..? D-pads and sticks very rarely have to be used together, so we just moved our thumbs from the D-pad to the left stick and TA DAR problem solved. Other than the D-pad-analog stick thing I've not seen pads change since the SNES. Hell I can't remember when I used the R3 button on my PS2 or the C stick on my cube.
The buttons are there incase the designers want to use them, that doesn't mean EVERY game uses all of them at once.
You sir are incorrect.
I'm a gamer and the Wiimote to me seems kind of a turn off. Don't really want it, but then I remember going "wow that touch screen is going to be so useless". Now I have to say I love my DS and the dual screens is insanely useful. The Wii will do the same, they'll have a rough start but people will soon get the hand of it and see how it should be used and then we'll open up entirely new genres, give us stuff we've always dreamed of (light saber fights are a hit with everyone).
So what is "I'm so hardcore I must have one of every console" doesn't dig the Wii. Thre are other options for them, but the Wii is going to be just like the gamecube as far as I can see. It won't be "teh uber popular" it won't be the strongest, but when you just want some fun and games you'll turn it on and get exactly what it said on the box.
As for the FPS comment.. Well when the hell did a console do FPS well? (STFU Halo fans before you even start). PCs are always better than consoles at FPS and RTS because they were more or less designed for their unique controls.
On the other hand think of playing something like Bushido blade with the Wii or a Zombie invasion style game where you have to fight off zombies as you escape the city or whatever.
Oh and are you forgetting the gamecube controller plugs straight into the Wiimote so we can play the "classic" style games at the same time?
In ways I agree but in other ways I disagree. The spin dash added an extra move which changed the gameplay for the better in ways. It stopped you having to run back to gain speed to make loops in some cases, which made the whole game flow a bit better. It was also possible to use it to make puzzles (aka not getting squished) a bit harder and need better timing (instead of pure luck or waiting and hoping you were fast enough walking).
I also perfer Sonic 2's level design and entire feel better. To me Sonic 2 is the peak of Sonic before it started to get silly (although I admit I like the original sonic adventure). I like one but theres some levels which just feel out of place (Spring yard and scrap brain for example).
One thing people forget about Sonic is it doesn't feel like anything else. Mario seems gritty (yes I know, magic mushrooms etc.) and has a very "drug enduced but simple" style. Where as Sonic's always been "Screw it, this looks fun and cool lets put it in". So instead of "wow it's a mountain" you get cool stuff like dancing flowers, totem poles and weird animal robots (Which they not destroyed just to make Gundam refrences in Sonic games.. great idea guys..). Sonic was onnly ever 50% gameplay if you watch carefully. The loops and spins added very little to the game but they define what Sonic is.. Makes you wonder if Sonic really was just a "Platformer" or if it was one of the earliest "true" artistic games.
Wikis are great at things which involve facts where no one gains anything from lies (See Guildwiki for example).
Wikis are bad when millions of dollars are involved and anyone can edit them. It only takes some "unknown person" who "doesn't have anything to do with the company" to goto the wiki and repeatedly edit it so it seems the patent is invalid or worthless and it may just seem that way (yes I know theres checks). Look at viral marketing and Sony's "lets graffiti shit to look cool" idea, notice how companies don't care how much money they spend just so they can look cool? Well what if they could pay some kid a couple of bucks a week to edit a wiki which could influence major things down the line... Yep you guessed it, they'll eat it up.
People need to register "Use the right tool for the right job" rather than "Wow it's open source! I bet I can use this system to fix everything in the world! Cancer/World hunger/Wars I've got your number bitch!"
Why would that be classed as respect? The way I read it he came across like a manager would, he's more important just because he's there..
Respect to me is when you go "well fuck me, he really did do that, thats pretty awesome" after someones done something to admire. Where as just not being an asshole is a basic requirement of being a decent person.
If you keep any mod above -1 I've officially lost faith in the Slashdot moderation system.
:)
echidnae put it in words better than I ever could, so I suggest you read his post.
Also just so we're clear here, parents know jackshit about their children's true mental healthy and developement. As much as people like to go "oh my kids fine, he's doing great and everything!" more often than not they hardly know their kids. Kids have never been 100% honest with their parents and the last people they want to talk to about stuff is them. It's easy to keep a shell to hide the screwed up stuff from.
Also to point out. Your kids would get no respect what so ever from me if they demanded it. I'll be polite and I won't fuck people over, but if you start demanding ANYTHING I will go out of my way to take that high horse's knee caps out and sit you on your ass. People should act decently, but respect should be given when it's earnt and for a good reason. If you demand respect for just breathing or being in the same location than me then you've got one hell of an ego and you're going to piss off more people than you could ever dream of.
I'd call it manager ego. You think you're important because someones told you so, but really you're just another lacky with a fake title and the second someone gets a chance to remind you of it they will. Same thing goes for you from the sounds of it..
Hey I've got karma to burn, I can throw around a little unpopular opinion.
Thank you for putting it into words better than I could.
You sir are a bad parent. I don't care what you say or what you do other than the above, but you're not only making your kids want to bully others (yes you are, if I hit person Y we both get punished. Why not hit person Y when I WANT them punished?).
My dad always used to say "stand up for yourself, kick the shit out of that bully" and I did. I leveled 7 guys in 1 fight and they never picked on me again. Didn't stop another person comming along and doing it though, only time it stopped is when my brother's friends (read : Rugby team 5 years older) found out and kicked the shit out of the new kids. And the reason I got bullied wasn't for my disability (I have shit legs) or my geeky nature, it was just because I was a person in the right place at the right time (read : Playground). But will that stop the next bully or should I always answer with my fists? Some times it's better to take a kick to the groin and learn from it than to "stick up for yourself". Something your kids are going to struggle to accept.
Also may I ask you what you would tell your daughter if she got raped? Would you go "wow you have a vagina! So your fault!" or would you sit down, eat your humble pie and learn that SHIT HAPPENS PREPARED OR NOT?
Didn't the DS already pass every single test to do with the older generation gaming? We've never seen a console sell to mothers more than kids before but the DS has single handedly got thousands of mothers playing Nintendogs, brain age and whatever other games they picked up.
Using the 360 to judge if the mass market is into the new gaming era is like using a people carrier to judge if people like fast cars. It makes no sense when we have something with a very clear cut answers right infront of us.
I happen to read Katakana and I'm working on Hiragana.. There is no R or L sound in Japanese, the both are combind to be the same sound. Hence Ru and Lu are the same thing but in this case I used Lu as it made more sense in the context.
Ghandi would like a word with you.
For some people ideals hold up beyond what you would consider common sense. Just because you can t understand it doesn't mean it won't happen.
Go for it. Print out a dozen fliers (hell I'd be happy to make them if you can't use photoshop) and paste them up around the area, put up some signs and such. You could really piss off the RIAA and get some news coverage if you do it well enough (or have friends to help).