Vinyl has a narrower dynamic range than digital audio and a frequency response that tends to noticeably colour the sound. Some people like this.
Wasn't it the other way arround? I was pretty positive that vinyls had lousy freq. response (and noise, fragility, and so), but they blew away digital media concerning dynamic range, which might be one of the reasons they're reputed to "sound better" for certain music styles (like classical, where poor dynamic range can kill a recording).
As for compression, FLAC offers a relatively good losesless compression, up to 24-bit audio. It's a very good format.
Probably nothing, since the people benefited from the fraud is already in power. Unless there were major civilian complaints on the issue (chances are not), they'll just let it be and wait for it to be forgotten. Just like it happened in 2000 with Bush, now that i think of it.
Agreed, but it was such a great game that stuff like that is forgivable, IMHO. Whenever i see games like "Grim Fandango" and "System shock 2" flopping while the latest Madden incarnation sells like hot bread i could cry.
THANK YOU, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! This is news i've been expecting forever now.
PS, if you don't know what the fuss is all about, download SCUMMVM and get a copy of "Sam & Max: Hit the road" (they're cheap). You can thank me later.
I don't really know... when the sequels for Full throttle and S&M were announced, it generated quite a stir in the gaming comunity. There is a market out there for quality adventure games, but Lucasarts decided to go for the quick buck stapling Star Wars decals in every game they could get their hands on. Shame on them.
All of this is true, of course, but even given the right circumstances it won't replace DRAM any time soon, simply because it involves a rather significant change in memory controller design (which, on modern systems, are beggining to be integrated with the CPU itself).
Still, i HOPE SRAM becomes as pratical as DRAM for everyday computing some day.
This is something i thought the first second i've heard of the whole thing. That Lycos had the balls to do something like that is impressive in the first place, but they did, and it actually worked. How long will it be until someone releases a DDOS attack client that targets known spammers? It won't matter if it's ethical, most people are so fed with spam that they'll use it anyway. Gladly, even.
Imagine a pretty screensaver a-la-SETI, but showing number of flood packets being sent...
Let's see, i've tried, among others, Argentum Online, Mu, Ryl, Everquest, some of the FF series (i can't recall the exact number), some of them by myself and some at friends'. And got to see in action SW:Galaxies, Ryzom and one of the Ultimas'. Also City of Heroes, which was the only one that seemed to try something different in the genre. Otherwise, they all felt the same, with minor differences in setting and gameplay.
And no, i haven't played World of Warcraft, but judging it by Blizzard's historial, it wouldn't surprise me if it actually turned to be pretty good. On a, IMHO, stagnant genre, but still.
As for the fee issue, yes, i imagined that. But they're charging for a game that is constantly patched (with reason) - why selling a box with a CD in the first place? It kinda beats the point.
Just wanted to lower the troll-tone on my parent post, if it came through like that. But i just can't see what's so appealing about these games...
I just don't get it. Everyone and his mother seem to be playing some sort of MMORPG these days. As soon as they get bored with one, they jump to another - which plays the exact same way, only with different graphics. I swear, i've tried MMORPGs a lot of times, but they bored me to death the second they turned into a job instead of a game (clicking for hours, walking huge maps, "training", etc).
I respect Blizzard a lot, and the game looks, on it's genre, quite nice, but i just don't get the madness over it. It's not like it's something fresh and never seen before...
Besides, is it me, or the most popular games in the genre require you to purchase the game and then pay a monthly fee? I mean, a fee for a quality server sounds nifty, but, why must you pay for the game aswell? Can you even set your own servers?
Don't forget that the only one using Steam, for the time beign, is Valve. That means HL1, HL2, assorted mods and nothing else. Online delivery is "big" only because HL2 was distributed over it, with sucess. It's yet to be seen how it will do after that, let alone if someone else than Valve decides to use it to publish their games.
Actually, Enlightenment has as many shitty themes as every other WM/DE in existence - i've seen both e16 and e17 look pretty slick and nice with some themes and downright awful with others.
The important thing about e17 is, IMHO, the technology that drives it. Some of the stuff that can be done with the Enlightenment libraries (particularly Evas) is amazing, and simply couldn't be done with software available before.
Give it a try and you'll understand. I used to use Fluxbox a lot, but being only a WM it's rather limited in what it can and can't do. I then moved to KDE, whose interface i loved but was dog-ass slow. From there i moved to GNOME, which was still dog-ass slow, and while it's interface is not as polished as KDEs, it looks (for me) a whole lot better.
Now i'm settled with XFCE 4, and i have to say is the first time i've ever been really comfortable with an *NIX desktop enviroment. Think of it as being somewhere between a WM and a DE: it borrows the best from both worlds. XFCE looks much like GNOME, being GTK based, but it just *flies*. In fact, i'm pretty sure that if your system runs Fluxbox well it will also run XFCE well.
The latest XFCE release is major in the sense they've started to polish the weak spots in the design - there's now a nice session manager, better configuration options, more eye candy:) and sleeker interface overall. Desktop icons are being developed for those who asked for it aswell. It's also one of the more Free Desktop-compliants DE available. It does what it's supposed to do, with zero bloat. In fact, i think the GNOME crew should take a few hints from XFCE.
Go even more backwards in time. Think that all old Gutemberg printing presses ran was bibles?
I once readed an article which stated that porn was a major driving force for a lot of technologies that changed our world during the years. And it made a lot of sense. Like you said: books, photography, television, movies, internet, video, you name it. Rest assured, porn will find a niche in 3d holographic images given the chance.
Just popped out that CD to make sure. The CD is 353mb, but there's a lot of stuff there that most people wouldn't care for - like demos, intros, GEOS software, utilities, and suck.
I knew i shouldn't do it. I spent 2hs playing stuff like Uridium, International Karate and Camelot Warriors. I feel like an old junkie...
Ditto. Every single CD i bought this year was first a download off either P2P or Bittorrent. In fact, i wouldn't have given most of them a chance if i hadn't gave them a spin at home.
The last FPS i truly enjoyed was Painkiller. Top notch graphics, physics engine (you can kill enemies in pretty funny ways), and sound, huge levels, enviroment, and a shitload of enemies. What's not to like? And, unlike others in the genre, is downright fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. Much like the Serious Sam series, but on steroids.
Also, the Gentoo install disc is a glorified linux bootdisk: it has a number of disk utilities, editors, even console internet apps. I've used it a couple of time to troubleshoot non-booting systems.
Slashdot Mirror
Vinyl has a narrower dynamic range than digital audio and a frequency response that tends to noticeably colour the sound. Some people like this.
Wasn't it the other way arround? I was pretty positive that vinyls had lousy freq. response (and noise, fragility, and so), but they blew away digital media concerning dynamic range, which might be one of the reasons they're reputed to "sound better" for certain music styles (like classical, where poor dynamic range can kill a recording).
As for compression, FLAC offers a relatively good losesless compression, up to 24-bit audio. It's a very good format.
Heinlein was a prophet.
Probably nothing, since the people benefited from the fraud is already in power. Unless there were major civilian complaints on the issue (chances are not), they'll just let it be and wait for it to be forgotten. Just like it happened in 2000 with Bush, now that i think of it.
MobyGames.com used to carry it; it's well worth a try. Or perhaps the the Lucasarts online store.
;)
By the way, LucasArts used to sell a bundle with DOTT, "Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis" and S&M, for something like $30 IIRC. Worth a search
Agreed, but it was such a great game that stuff like that is forgivable, IMHO. Whenever i see games like "Grim Fandango" and "System shock 2" flopping while the latest Madden incarnation sells like hot bread i could cry.
THANK YOU, thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! This is news i've been expecting forever now.
PS, if you don't know what the fuss is all about, download SCUMMVM and get a copy of "Sam & Max: Hit the road" (they're cheap). You can thank me later.
I don't really know... when the sequels for Full throttle and S&M were announced, it generated quite a stir in the gaming comunity. There is a market out there for quality adventure games, but Lucasarts decided to go for the quick buck stapling Star Wars decals in every game they could get their hands on. Shame on them.
All of this is true, of course, but even given the right circumstances it won't replace DRAM any time soon, simply because it involves a rather significant change in memory controller design (which, on modern systems, are beggining to be integrated with the CPU itself).
Still, i HOPE SRAM becomes as pratical as DRAM for everyday computing some day.
Here you go. Glad i could be helpful.
This is something i thought the first second i've heard of the whole thing. That Lycos had the balls to do something like that is impressive in the first place, but they did, and it actually worked. How long will it be until someone releases a DDOS attack client that targets known spammers? It won't matter if it's ethical, most people are so fed with spam that they'll use it anyway. Gladly, even.
Imagine a pretty screensaver a-la-SETI, but showing number of flood packets being sent...
Let's see, i've tried, among others, Argentum Online, Mu, Ryl, Everquest, some of the FF series (i can't recall the exact number), some of them by myself and some at friends'. And got to see in action SW:Galaxies, Ryzom and one of the Ultimas'. Also City of Heroes, which was the only one that seemed to try something different in the genre. Otherwise, they all felt the same, with minor differences in setting and gameplay.
And no, i haven't played World of Warcraft, but judging it by Blizzard's historial, it wouldn't surprise me if it actually turned to be pretty good. On a, IMHO, stagnant genre, but still.
As for the fee issue, yes, i imagined that. But they're charging for a game that is constantly patched (with reason) - why selling a box with a CD in the first place? It kinda beats the point.
Just wanted to lower the troll-tone on my parent post, if it came through like that. But i just can't see what's so appealing about these games...
Yes. I have a special place in my heart for "Super Mario Land 2" (Original GB) and "Super Mario World" (SNES).
They just don't make them like that anymore.
I just don't get it. Everyone and his mother seem to be playing some sort of MMORPG these days. As soon as they get bored with one, they jump to another - which plays the exact same way, only with different graphics. I swear, i've tried MMORPGs a lot of times, but they bored me to death the second they turned into a job instead of a game (clicking for hours, walking huge maps, "training", etc).
I respect Blizzard a lot, and the game looks, on it's genre, quite nice, but i just don't get the madness over it. It's not like it's something fresh and never seen before...
Besides, is it me, or the most popular games in the genre require you to purchase the game and then pay a monthly fee? I mean, a fee for a quality server sounds nifty, but, why must you pay for the game aswell? Can you even set your own servers?
Don't forget that the only one using Steam, for the time beign, is Valve. That means HL1, HL2, assorted mods and nothing else. Online delivery is "big" only because HL2 was distributed over it, with sucess. It's yet to be seen how it will do after that, let alone if someone else than Valve decides to use it to publish their games.
Like i said, try XFCE on it. I think you'll like it. That's how i discovered it, trying to make an old PII laptop run smoothly.
Actually, Enlightenment has as many shitty themes as every other WM/DE in existence - i've seen both e16 and e17 look pretty slick and nice with some themes and downright awful with others.
The important thing about e17 is, IMHO, the technology that drives it. Some of the stuff that can be done with the Enlightenment libraries (particularly Evas) is amazing, and simply couldn't be done with software available before.
This is what first struck me about the e17 developement. Evas alone is impressive, and a kick in the ass to several other X graphic libraries.
Give it a try and you'll understand. I used to use Fluxbox a lot, but being only a WM it's rather limited in what it can and can't do. I then moved to KDE, whose interface i loved but was dog-ass slow. From there i moved to GNOME, which was still dog-ass slow, and while it's interface is not as polished as KDEs, it looks (for me) a whole lot better.
:) and sleeker interface overall. Desktop icons are being developed for those who asked for it aswell. It's also one of the more Free Desktop-compliants DE available. It does what it's supposed to do, with zero bloat. In fact, i think the GNOME crew should take a few hints from XFCE.
Now i'm settled with XFCE 4, and i have to say is the first time i've ever been really comfortable with an *NIX desktop enviroment. Think of it as being somewhere between a WM and a DE: it borrows the best from both worlds. XFCE looks much like GNOME, being GTK based, but it just *flies*. In fact, i'm pretty sure that if your system runs Fluxbox well it will also run XFCE well.
The latest XFCE release is major in the sense they've started to polish the weak spots in the design - there's now a nice session manager, better configuration options, more eye candy
Go even more backwards in time. Think that all old Gutemberg printing presses ran was bibles?
:D
I once readed an article which stated that porn was a major driving force for a lot of technologies that changed our world during the years. And it made a lot of sense. Like you said: books, photography, television, movies, internet, video, you name it. Rest assured, porn will find a niche in 3d holographic images given the chance.
And i'd buy it
Just popped out that CD to make sure. The CD is 353mb, but there's a lot of stuff there that most people wouldn't care for - like demos, intros, GEOS software, utilities, and suck.
I knew i shouldn't do it. I spent 2hs playing stuff like Uridium, International Karate and Camelot Warriors. I feel like an old junkie...
1gb? I once downloaded every single C64 piece of software i could find to make myself a CD - from every popular C64 site. The result? Less than 250mb.
Ditto. Every single CD i bought this year was first a download off either P2P or Bittorrent. In fact, i wouldn't have given most of them a chance if i hadn't gave them a spin at home.
Oh, wait...
The last FPS i truly enjoyed was Painkiller. Top notch graphics, physics engine (you can kill enemies in pretty funny ways), and sound, huge levels, enviroment, and a shitload of enemies. What's not to like? And, unlike others in the genre, is downright fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. Much like the Serious Sam series, but on steroids.
It also has some great multiplayer modes.
Also, the Gentoo install disc is a glorified linux bootdisk: it has a number of disk utilities, editors, even console internet apps. I've used it a couple of time to troubleshoot non-booting systems.