has an aversion to anything widely considered "success" and may actually avoid, for example, finishing college or applying for high-paying jobs. The kind of person who, despite being very bright, would work at a record store for minimum wage because he "loves music."
So anyway, my point - and I know it took a while to get there - is that excessive homework is the negative form of extrinsic motivation. Unless success is *heavily* reinforced, it provides way too much negative feedback in comparison to positive. So what it really teaches students is that doing work.. sucks. And that's something that will bleed into their work ethic for the rest of their lives.
You know, there is also the possibly that work really does suck. I consider myself reasonably bright, my IQ is 136, I've been self taught in computers since I was 7, the web since I was 12, and I'm 22 now. I can, with confidence, code well enough to get by, scrape up a pretty good website from basic HTML to PHP, MySQL, Javascript, Flash, yada yada, I consider myself quite good at design and art, and I write game reviews for a professional site in my spare time.
But after two years of taking classes for designing and coding websites and administrating, I've got to say I've pretty much come to the conclusion that although I love these things, I don't want it to be my profession. I love HTML, PHP, MySQL, etc... but freelancing, keeping up with standards and the browser war, and in the real world, ending up spending all your time coding dumb little business sites and maybe a few big name movie sites which are demanded to be 100% Flash and as gaudy as possible, well, it sucks.
Same thing with art and writing. With art, you'll probably end up spending most your time designing toothpaste ads for some company you could care less about. Not to mention I can't stand 90% of people who describe themselves as artists or designers. With writing, better prepare to take an interest in the most mundane of subjects to report on, and reading a lot of press releases.
So yeah, unless I dumb luck into something better, I've worked retail in the past and might do so again, or go into some simple office work. And for the most part, I've enjoyed it. Simple, straight foward work that although it doesn't come with a huge salary, can be quite fulfilling when you're doing it for yourself and not because you feel "success" as other people describe it is demanded.
When you've got a steady paycheck and enough free time to do the things you enjoy, it's surprising how often one can find "success" where they don't expect it.
As a female gamer, I completely agree with your assessment of how offensive cheesecake is to my ilk. I mean, sure, it's kind of insulting when a company tries to pass off a bad game by luring you in with boobs *coughTombRaidercough* but I think that's more to do with the general offense of assuming gamers are stupid.
Indeed. For what it's worth, most male gamers I know are equally offended in their gamer pride by Tomb Raider XVI, BloodRayne, etc. Nobody plays these games (past the original TR), nobody honestly cares about the horid character design or Babe Du Jour. It's a non-issue when the game itself is so dang unplayable it'll be in the bargin-bin in 3 months.
There are some very talented, very impressive women working both professionally in the game industry, and as hobbyists in the community. I find it a joy to play female created content for the fresh perspective it brings, and would honestly like to see more. There are also several highly skilled and competitive female players out there in several genres, and I'm happy to say more all the time.
I would just like the see this oft mentioned "casual, non-gamer" female crowd that is said to be so opressed to just realize, unless they themselves get active in the community, nothing is going to change that quickly. They have all the same tools, and there's just no reason they can't create their own content the way they want to see it.
Start small, build an audience, and bam... you've got the next Counter Strike. Except this time, it's theirs. It's worked for ages, and it'll work for the casual female gamer too if the audience is truly there.
Just because we don't "fix it" ourselves doesn't de-legitimize our right to COMPLAIN ABOUT CRAP. And that includes you and your feculent opinions, sir.
First just let me say it's bad form to take things to extremes, then use your own analogies to insult me. But, just to prove a point:
People are fixing music by 1) making their own music, 2) supporting local talent, and 3) buying from artists they like instead of the big names they hate. It works, a little bit at a time. Same deal for books... Don't like the big names? Find authors you do like online and support them instead.
Writing your own OS is one heck of an extreme. I'm sorry you dislike the current state of computing, but that's what you got. Have you considered Mac, by the way? You don't have the fix the whole dang OS, just write a program or help an OSS group that does a function you need.
And yes, people ARE fixing Star Wars. Just look at all the fan films out there which are getting tons of support.
Fact is, I provided what I consider to be real world, concrete examples of how the current girl gamer, unsatisfied with today's games, can fix it. You can find any number of existing engines to mod, you can get use an open source engine, or you can support people doing so and play their games. An audience is needed, too.
You're certainly allowed to complain, but complaining simply doesn't solve anything unless you get actively involved and contribute. The casual 'girl gamer' crowd needs to realize that they need to solve their own problems, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. If your answer is just "I don't have the time", then you also have your reason for the current state of things.
Re:The "arbitrary barriers" are what annoy me...
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A Gamer's Manifesto
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It's really simple. Just ask yourself - if this were a MOVIE, would I believe in this event? (Paul Anderson and Uwe Boll movies excepted) Would I believe that the characters need to spend three months item-gathering? Would I believe it's necessary for the heroes to take a break from the plot to crossbreed giant chickens?
Wait wait... I believe you're referring to Chocobo breeding when you say 'crossbreed giant chickens'. If so, come now, that was one of the cooler parts of FF7. Role Playing games allow you to do stuff like breed chocobos on the side simply because they're role playing. Maybe your quest does involve needing a giant chicken... who's to say?
Games designed as movies are nice for the crucial moments or action games, but as gamers we tend to want content... lots of content. Especially in our RPGS. I love games like Morrowind that let me play however I feel like, and can stand up to 3 months of item gathering.
No, really. I want to know which company patented the loading-screen game.
Last I heard, Namco owns loading screen games on the PSP. Not sure about in general though, but it's a good guess. Here's a quote from Game Developer magazine, interviewing EA's Dave McCarthy:
BS: Do you forsee anything like minigames during the loading screens?
DM: Minigames during loading screens is actually patented by Namco, so they're doing it!
Re:Ahh.. jumping puzzles...
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A Gamer's Manifesto
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· Score: 3, Interesting
That Metroid Prime isn't really a FPS doesn't change the central issue - why is it that MP's jumping sequences aren't annoying, and in fact are even FUN, when most times having a first-person jumping sequence is the kiss of death?
Well, personally I'd say that has to do with the game type, as well as the reasons you listed. Metroid prime did had great jumping control, it was easy to do, and the camera flowed so smoothly. Metroid Prime was a platformer by design in many ways. It was something you expected from the heritage, something the game planned for and allowed for. The jumping was to get to a new area, or to expand the level design upward and outward, in a more 3D manner.
In your average FPS, you're not a bounty hunter in a power suit leaping and flipping like spiderman, you're some joe carrying a ton of weapons. When all of the sudden you go from Gordon Freeman, sneaking around Black Messa to Xen, suddenly trying to pointlessly leap around, it's just not built into the game. It kills the belief when you're suddenly leaping over bottomless pits onto little platforms.
Basically I'd say in your average FPS, it's not just annoying when you miss, it's out of place. As the original poster said, suddenly you turn into Mario. A perfectly normal game starts giving you really silly jumps to make across obviously preplanned routes. It's like if all of the sudden, I was required to start jumping on enemies' heads.
And this is years after analysts told developers that women would happily play games if they didn't feel so objectified by them, and several decades past the point where they should have even needed to be told that
There is hope however. Like all industry, it is inevitable that females will eventually forge their place in the world of game design. The female designers will burst on the scene soon enough, heaving their giant bosoms of talent and creativity and brandishing their black thongs of diversity.
They feel objectified by them? Seriously, that's what you get for taking the word of analysts. In the real world, a good deal of actual girl gamers aren't bothered by such things just as men aren't bothered by the hulking warriors and shirtless fighters. The demographic he's pointing to is the casual, non-gamer... and let's face it, they don't know what they want. Odds are, they don't want anything... they're not gamers. People need to realize there's a crowd that just won't be sold to, regardless.
As for female developers / designers, more power to them! In fact, what the heck is taking so long? I'm sick of seeing complaints from females and males on behalf of females about the gaming industry. You don't like it? GET IN IT AND 'FIX' IT! In truth, the girl gamers I know just don't care enough to try and change anything. We'll make our games, you make yours... everyone is happy.
The arguement I usually hear back is that nobody will fund the idea. I know good and well that it's hard to break into the gaming industry, but if the female population/really/ cared about making THEIR games, they would use today's tech to do it. I don't care less if you hate UT2k4, it's been modded into everything from a racing sim to a GOLF GAME. It's been modded into a top down shooter, a 2D shooter, and even a platformer game! There are countless engines like this, and plenty of open source solutions too.
It all reminds me of a post on Newgrounds a good while ago. Some anon woman basically flamed Newgrounds for not posting anything she liked, speaking on behalf of all girls that the site was bias. The result, after a good deal of laughter, was 1) A lot of offended site regulars who were women, and 2) a general agreement that Newgrounds is a COMMUNITY site and it is what you make it. If you want that kind of content, make that kind of content! Nobody is going to do it for you.
Jumping puzzles in Metroid Prime work very well, thank you very much.
I didn't play Half Life completely (I didn't like it), but, as far as I got, jump puzzles weren't a problem either.
That said, why can't I see the feet of characters in FPSs?
Metroid Prime should hardly be called a FPS. It's first person, and you shoot, but it's more a FPS / Platformer hybird. You don't really aim so much as you lock on, and dodge / fight like a platformer. It's unique in the field.
If you didn't even finish Half Life, you're concerned about your feet in games (Halo 2), and these are the only two examples you give, I'm guessing you don't play too many FPS games. The end of Half Life had some really horrid jumping puzzles, for example.
The problem has lessened since older games though, Alice was the last really jump-happy game that instantly comes to my mind. Doom 3 had some tricky jumps / platform fighting, but not a heck of a lot. If done right, jumping can add to the complexity of an environment and give the game depth. If done wrong, you are indeed jumping from floating / moving platform A to floating / moving platform B, C, D, and E for no good reason.
Microsoft's slang page claims it's We Own the Other Team. That pretty much rules it out as being the one. Even if it was, which I doubt, it died that day.
My "favorite", as in most memorable threat, was the Michelangelo virus. I remember hearing so much about this, most of which was entirely untrue. It was the Y2K bug, in many ways... a real threat, with real damage, but way overblown.
I believe I even heard this virus credited with the then -very- scary task that, if you viewed an infected file while you had the virus, it would then be wiped out. Of course, that's not the case. Not sure if this was simply confusion for another real virus, or just some made up tale.
To take some highly unstable code and to "preview" it is a bit premature right now. I would call 1.1beta a better time to 'preview' things, as hopefully by then there will be a feature freeze and things will have stabilized a bit. I'm not kidding about the unstable bit either: up until a couple days ago themes and extensions wouldn't install in the nightly builds.
Oh come on, it's not highly unstable at all. I run trunk builds all the time. The extensions wouldn't probably install ONLY because about a week ago, a big patch landed that let you install/remove extensions just by moving the directories. There was a lot of fallout bugs from that, and they took a few days to track down and fix.
If you're not actually testing Firefox, then you should expect this kind of thing and simply not download the latest nightly until it has passed. I stayed on the 04/22 build for a week while they patched it up.
There should, unless something has changed, be a 1.1 "developer build" preview coming really soon now. I don't follow the news too closely, so maybe it's been canned... but I doubt it.
The problem with the majority of Christians in this country is that they worship the Bible instead of God. Instead of asking themselves "What would a kind and compassionate God think of homosexuality (for example)" they point to the Bible and say "look- it says here that that is wrong!"
Exactly. I can't count the number of people who have probably never, not once, considered even just the translation issue. It's a translated copy of a translated copy and so forth. Folks can happily, gladly, and willingly base their entire moral code and lives around something they rarely bother to fully understand. When quizzed on the subject, the standard answer is "My faith comes from the Bible and that's that." -- Personally, I would answer God or Jesus.
Many will even ask something along the lines of: "Without the bible, where does your faith come from?" or "There would be no morals!" or etc. As if faith and morals were invented by the bible.
I worry in 2000 years the leading source will be the Babel Fish version, and what that will do to our society.
Here's the thing though... I can't see counting the GBA lineup as part of the DS's "library". Especially when you say in the same post, "the DS is not the new GameBoy". The GBA was a great machine, still is, with a top notch library. I hope the DS will someday have a library like it.
As for the stylus, I'm unimpressed. As others have said, I've gamed on a Pocket PC with a large, color touchscreen and stylus for years.
When the heck did I say plenty coming = huge lineup?
It's got a huge lineup right now, just go look. Check your favorite retailer, or whatnot. All the games I listed are OUT NOW, and they're just the tip of the iceberg. Games I didn't mention include Rengoku, FIFA, ATV Offroad, MLB, Tiger Woods, Ape Escape, NFL Street 2, World Tour Soccer, Gretzky, NBA, Spiderman 2, Dynasty Warriors, and I'm probably forgetting some.
And here's the thing, I know this is odd for DS owners... it has plenty coming soon as well. Exciting things like FPS games, Grand Theft Auto, old school RPGs, and even for some odd reason, Neopets. Let's not forget you can import any game you'd like, since they're region free. The Bleach 2D fighter (based on the popular anime) looks amazing. Personally, I'm waiting on Burnout Legends.
I'm simply saying what the DS owners I see tell me, and what it looks like as far as I can see. YMMV.
Honestly, if you find video converting hard, you really need to try another software. I'm not just saying that because this is Slashdot and you should know this, but because it really is incredibly, incredibly, simple.
Try PSP Video 9 for example. One click conversion with great sizes and quality on everything I've ported over so far, free.
I find it awful funny to say the PSP doesn't have many good games, and to specifically compliment the DS games. The #1 complaint I hear from DS FANS is that it has no games.
The PSP on the other hand has a huge library, enough for any tastes.
Arcade Racing = Ridge Racer Street Racing/w upgrades = Need for Speed Future Racing/w weapons = Wipeout Pure Puzzle = Lumines / Mercury Fighting = Darkstalkers Tactics / Action = Metal Gear Solid Acid Fun Sports = Hot Shots Golf Driving / Combat = Twisted Metal Head On Action RPG = Untold Legends RPG = Plenty coming
There's a poker game coming, an MMORPG, 2D fighting games, Burnout Legends, and a whole lot more. Rumors for a Sonic game even. To say the PSP has no games is ignoring the already HUGE lineup, in favor of what? Some new Mario games? The new Metroid could have sold me on the DS, if it was any good.
And while I agree the built in speaker sucks, the sound is great through the included ear buds.
Fair enough... A question I get from both some atheist and Christian friends from time to time. I think one can be open minded about the bible, about religion, about a whole lot of things and still be a Christian. There's a lot of people who will say differently, but that's just not the feeling I get.
As for why I'm a Christian as opposed to say, a Deist or Atheist, is simply a personal choice. I can't possibly claim to have factored every possible choice, but from my own experiences and from what I've seen, Christianity feels right to me. Deists pretty much believe in God through logic, they make no assumptions about after life, or any personal relationship with God. Christianity offers this, and assumes God does care.
Personally I believe much of modern Christianity is mislead, offtrack from it's true meaning. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there's factors I would never think to even include, but I'd rather pick a religion that feels right for me than refuse to play at all because of uncertainty. In the end, I think all roads will lead to the same path... it's the time between now and then that differs.
I'm very angry when Christians assert that to be a Christian, you must believe the literal truth of the Bible, even though reading just the first few chapters of Genesis shows that the Bible contradicts itself and that any reasonable thinking person can't accept it all as literally true. I'm boggled that some Christians think that for something to contain wisdom and truth, it must be literally true-- is your view of God so amazingly simplistic?
Excellent post, thank you. I'm a Christian, and I've been called a non-Christian by other Christians just because I don't believe the bible is literally true. It astounds me. If you ask me, it is a representation of our understanding of religion a few thousand years ago. Much like our understanding of science has greatly evolved, so should our understanding of religion.
When it comes right down to it, Evangelicals will never deny a single word or give an inch because if one tiny bit is shown false, then the whole thing comes undone. They'll point to countless "proof" that they say "proves" the bible is true, whether they've actually read any of this for themselves or not. For that matter, it's usually surprising if they've actually read the Bible itself cover to cover... even though they claim it to be the factual word of God himself. A fewer percent still actually follow what is written.
Personally, I believe we can't possibly know what religion is right. I honestly don't believe that any decent non-Christian human is any worse than any decent Christian human. Thankfully, this idea is starting to spread. There's so many diverse ways to be a good person and show faith and love, it should be appreciated, not scorned. I liken it to sports... No matter what team you root for, you're still there for the love of the game.
What saddens me is when people get a theory in their head and they're convinced for life that it's the one and true choice. Evangelical Christians and Atheists alike. I've seen so many people look at religion, find a small issue, and suddenly become stone cold atheists for life. It's sad not because I think they're going to get some kind of ultimate punishment for making a judgment call, but because they're missing out on joy, love, and support just because they refuse to consider alternatives. They'll spend the rest of their lives trying to prove something they can't possibly prove, looking down on religions, and basically being no different than what they pointlessly despise.
In short, a little bit of tolerance and understanding on both sides of the fence would go a long way. The Evangelicals need to open their hearts and minds to others, and Atheists need to consider the beliefs of others, and stop stereotyping everyone into the same groups.
"War on Ignorance". The stated goal of such a war could be to educate the entire global population. To root out Ignorance and replace it with Truthful Knowledge would be the ongoing battle. As a side note, it would also help fight drug abuse and terrorism (religious fundamentalism) as well, since Ignorance lies at the root of those nasty human behaviors.
Ha ha, I can think of oh so many ways that would go wrong. Come on... War on Ignorance? Who are WE to declare a War on Ignorance? Have you seen half the stupid laws we pass or things we do? Do you have any idea what our so called Turthful Knowledge would be? That sounds like "Trusted Computing" to me.
I love my country, but come on... we need to fix our own education system before we go proclaiming our Truthful Knowledge to everyone else... enforcing it via a "war" no less. I can just imagine what we'd do to folks who disagree with our knowledge. Our Truthful Knowledge as currently presented is a joke.
On the subject of free language software, I'd like to point one out. I've used Supermemo 7 for a long time now, and have had great results for it. It may be old, but it works like a charm. It's an intelligent flashcard program of sorts that can store thousands of entries and repeat them only as needed.
Please ignore the ugly image at the bottom of this page, it's not a representation of what the program looks like, and download it from the tiny links at the very bottom.
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has an aversion to anything widely considered "success" and may actually avoid, for example, finishing college or applying for high-paying jobs. The kind of person who, despite being very bright, would work at a record store for minimum wage because he "loves music."
So anyway, my point - and I know it took a while to get there - is that excessive homework is the negative form of extrinsic motivation. Unless success is *heavily* reinforced, it provides way too much negative feedback in comparison to positive. So what it really teaches students is that doing work.. sucks. And that's something that will bleed into their work ethic for the rest of their lives.
You know, there is also the possibly that work really does suck. I consider myself reasonably bright, my IQ is 136, I've been self taught in computers since I was 7, the web since I was 12, and I'm 22 now. I can, with confidence, code well enough to get by, scrape up a pretty good website from basic HTML to PHP, MySQL, Javascript, Flash, yada yada, I consider myself quite good at design and art, and I write game reviews for a professional site in my spare time.
But after two years of taking classes for designing and coding websites and administrating, I've got to say I've pretty much come to the conclusion that although I love these things, I don't want it to be my profession. I love HTML, PHP, MySQL, etc... but freelancing, keeping up with standards and the browser war, and in the real world, ending up spending all your time coding dumb little business sites and maybe a few big name movie sites which are demanded to be 100% Flash and as gaudy as possible, well, it sucks.
Same thing with art and writing. With art, you'll probably end up spending most your time designing toothpaste ads for some company you could care less about. Not to mention I can't stand 90% of people who describe themselves as artists or designers. With writing, better prepare to take an interest in the most mundane of subjects to report on, and reading a lot of press releases.
So yeah, unless I dumb luck into something better, I've worked retail in the past and might do so again, or go into some simple office work. And for the most part, I've enjoyed it. Simple, straight foward work that although it doesn't come with a huge salary, can be quite fulfilling when you're doing it for yourself and not because you feel "success" as other people describe it is demanded.
When you've got a steady paycheck and enough free time to do the things you enjoy, it's surprising how often one can find "success" where they don't expect it.
As a female gamer, I completely agree with your assessment of how offensive cheesecake is to my ilk. I mean, sure, it's kind of insulting when a company tries to pass off a bad game by luring you in with boobs *coughTombRaidercough* but I think that's more to do with the general offense of assuming gamers are stupid.
Indeed. For what it's worth, most male gamers I know are equally offended in their gamer pride by Tomb Raider XVI, BloodRayne, etc. Nobody plays these games (past the original TR), nobody honestly cares about the horid character design or Babe Du Jour. It's a non-issue when the game itself is so dang unplayable it'll be in the bargin-bin in 3 months.
There are some very talented, very impressive women working both professionally in the game industry, and as hobbyists in the community. I find it a joy to play female created content for the fresh perspective it brings, and would honestly like to see more. There are also several highly skilled and competitive female players out there in several genres, and I'm happy to say more all the time.
I would just like the see this oft mentioned "casual, non-gamer" female crowd that is said to be so opressed to just realize, unless they themselves get active in the community, nothing is going to change that quickly. They have all the same tools, and there's just no reason they can't create their own content the way they want to see it.
Start small, build an audience, and bam... you've got the next Counter Strike. Except this time, it's theirs. It's worked for ages, and it'll work for the casual female gamer too if the audience is truly there.
Just because we don't "fix it" ourselves doesn't de-legitimize our right to COMPLAIN ABOUT CRAP. And that includes you and your feculent opinions, sir.
First just let me say it's bad form to take things to extremes, then use your own analogies to insult me. But, just to prove a point:
People are fixing music by 1) making their own music, 2) supporting local talent, and 3) buying from artists they like instead of the big names they hate. It works, a little bit at a time. Same deal for books... Don't like the big names? Find authors you do like online and support them instead.
Writing your own OS is one heck of an extreme. I'm sorry you dislike the current state of computing, but that's what you got. Have you considered Mac, by the way? You don't have the fix the whole dang OS, just write a program or help an OSS group that does a function you need.
And yes, people ARE fixing Star Wars. Just look at all the fan films out there which are getting tons of support.
Fact is, I provided what I consider to be real world, concrete examples of how the current girl gamer, unsatisfied with today's games, can fix it. You can find any number of existing engines to mod, you can get use an open source engine, or you can support people doing so and play their games. An audience is needed, too.
You're certainly allowed to complain, but complaining simply doesn't solve anything unless you get actively involved and contribute. The casual 'girl gamer' crowd needs to realize that they need to solve their own problems, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. If your answer is just "I don't have the time", then you also have your reason for the current state of things.
It's really simple. Just ask yourself - if this were a MOVIE, would I believe in this event? (Paul Anderson and Uwe Boll movies excepted) Would I believe that the characters need to spend three months item-gathering? Would I believe it's necessary for the heroes to take a break from the plot to crossbreed giant chickens?
Wait wait... I believe you're referring to Chocobo breeding when you say 'crossbreed giant chickens'. If so, come now, that was one of the cooler parts of FF7. Role Playing games allow you to do stuff like breed chocobos on the side simply because they're role playing. Maybe your quest does involve needing a giant chicken... who's to say?
Games designed as movies are nice for the crucial moments or action games, but as gamers we tend to want content... lots of content. Especially in our RPGS. I love games like Morrowind that let me play however I feel like, and can stand up to 3 months of item gathering.
I, for one, welcome our inbred giant chicken overlords.
No, really. I want to know which company patented the loading-screen game.
Last I heard, Namco owns loading screen games on the PSP. Not sure about in general though, but it's a good guess. Here's a quote from Game Developer magazine, interviewing EA's Dave McCarthy:
BS: Do you forsee anything like minigames during the loading screens?
DM: Minigames during loading screens is actually patented by Namco, so they're doing it!
That Metroid Prime isn't really a FPS doesn't change the central issue - why is it that MP's jumping sequences aren't annoying, and in fact are even FUN, when most times having a first-person jumping sequence is the kiss of death?
Well, personally I'd say that has to do with the game type, as well as the reasons you listed. Metroid prime did had great jumping control, it was easy to do, and the camera flowed so smoothly. Metroid Prime was a platformer by design in many ways. It was something you expected from the heritage, something the game planned for and allowed for. The jumping was to get to a new area, or to expand the level design upward and outward, in a more 3D manner.
In your average FPS, you're not a bounty hunter in a power suit leaping and flipping like spiderman, you're some joe carrying a ton of weapons. When all of the sudden you go from Gordon Freeman, sneaking around Black Messa to Xen, suddenly trying to pointlessly leap around, it's just not built into the game. It kills the belief when you're suddenly leaping over bottomless pits onto little platforms.
Basically I'd say in your average FPS, it's not just annoying when you miss, it's out of place. As the original poster said, suddenly you turn into Mario. A perfectly normal game starts giving you really silly jumps to make across obviously preplanned routes. It's like if all of the sudden, I was required to start jumping on enemies' heads.
And this is years after analysts told developers that women would happily play games if they didn't feel so objectified by them, and several decades past the point where they should have even needed to be told that There is hope however. Like all industry, it is inevitable that females will eventually forge their place in the world of game design. The female designers will burst on the scene soon enough, heaving their giant bosoms of talent and creativity and brandishing their black thongs of diversity.
/really/ cared about making THEIR games, they would use today's tech to do it. I don't care less if you hate UT2k4, it's been modded into everything from a racing sim to a GOLF GAME. It's been modded into a top down shooter, a 2D shooter, and even a platformer game! There are countless engines like this, and plenty of open source solutions too.
They feel objectified by them? Seriously, that's what you get for taking the word of analysts. In the real world, a good deal of actual girl gamers aren't bothered by such things just as men aren't bothered by the hulking warriors and shirtless fighters. The demographic he's pointing to is the casual, non-gamer... and let's face it, they don't know what they want. Odds are, they don't want anything... they're not gamers. People need to realize there's a crowd that just won't be sold to, regardless.
As for female developers / designers, more power to them! In fact, what the heck is taking so long? I'm sick of seeing complaints from females and males on behalf of females about the gaming industry. You don't like it? GET IN IT AND 'FIX' IT! In truth, the girl gamers I know just don't care enough to try and change anything. We'll make our games, you make yours... everyone is happy.
The arguement I usually hear back is that nobody will fund the idea. I know good and well that it's hard to break into the gaming industry, but if the female population
It all reminds me of a post on Newgrounds a good while ago. Some anon woman basically flamed Newgrounds for not posting anything she liked, speaking on behalf of all girls that the site was bias. The result, after a good deal of laughter, was 1) A lot of offended site regulars who were women, and 2) a general agreement that Newgrounds is a COMMUNITY site and it is what you make it. If you want that kind of content, make that kind of content! Nobody is going to do it for you.
Jumping puzzles in Metroid Prime work very well, thank you very much.
I didn't play Half Life completely (I didn't like it), but, as far as I got, jump puzzles weren't a problem either. That said, why can't I see the feet of characters in FPSs?
Metroid Prime should hardly be called a FPS. It's first person, and you shoot, but it's more a FPS / Platformer hybird. You don't really aim so much as you lock on, and dodge / fight like a platformer. It's unique in the field.
If you didn't even finish Half Life, you're concerned about your feet in games (Halo 2), and these are the only two examples you give, I'm guessing you don't play too many FPS games. The end of Half Life had some really horrid jumping puzzles, for example.
The problem has lessened since older games though, Alice was the last really jump-happy game that instantly comes to my mind. Doom 3 had some tricky jumps / platform fighting, but not a heck of a lot. If done right, jumping can add to the complexity of an environment and give the game depth. If done wrong, you are indeed jumping from floating / moving platform A to floating / moving platform B, C, D, and E for no good reason.
Microsoft's slang page claims it's We Own the Other Team. That pretty much rules it out as being the one. Even if it was, which I doubt, it died that day.
My "favorite", as in most memorable threat, was the Michelangelo virus. I remember hearing so much about this, most of which was entirely untrue. It was the Y2K bug, in many ways... a real threat, with real damage, but way overblown.
g elo%20virus
http://www.vmyths.com/fas/fas_inc/inc1.cfm
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Michelan
I believe I even heard this virus credited with the then -very- scary task that, if you viewed an infected file while you had the virus, it would then be wiped out. Of course, that's not the case. Not sure if this was simply confusion for another real virus, or just some made up tale.
Oh, if only I could mod you funny AND off-topic. Let's just call it a wash.
How to sing the Blues - Rule #4
Source, who knows... several. Google it.
The Blues ain't about choice.
You stuck in a ditch,
you stuck in a ditch;
ain't no way out.
To take some highly unstable code and to "preview" it is a bit premature right now. I would call 1.1beta a better time to 'preview' things, as hopefully by then there will be a feature freeze and things will have stabilized a bit. I'm not kidding about the unstable bit either: up until a couple days ago themes and extensions wouldn't install in the nightly builds.
Oh come on, it's not highly unstable at all. I run trunk builds all the time. The extensions wouldn't probably install ONLY because about a week ago, a big patch landed that let you install/remove extensions just by moving the directories. There was a lot of fallout bugs from that, and they took a few days to track down and fix.
If you're not actually testing Firefox, then you should expect this kind of thing and simply not download the latest nightly until it has passed. I stayed on the 04/22 build for a week while they patched it up.
There should, unless something has changed, be a 1.1 "developer build" preview coming really soon now. I don't follow the news too closely, so maybe it's been canned... but I doubt it.
The problem with the majority of Christians in this country is that they worship the Bible instead of God. Instead of asking themselves "What would a kind and compassionate God think of homosexuality (for example)" they point to the Bible and say "look- it says here that that is wrong!"
Exactly. I can't count the number of people who have probably never, not once, considered even just the translation issue. It's a translated copy of a translated copy and so forth. Folks can happily, gladly, and willingly base their entire moral code and lives around something they rarely bother to fully understand. When quizzed on the subject, the standard answer is "My faith comes from the Bible and that's that." -- Personally, I would answer God or Jesus.
Many will even ask something along the lines of: "Without the bible, where does your faith come from?" or "There would be no morals!" or etc. As if faith and morals were invented by the bible.
I worry in 2000 years the leading source will be the Babel Fish version, and what that will do to our society.
Here's the thing though... I can't see counting the GBA lineup as part of the DS's "library". Especially when you say in the same post, "the DS is not the new GameBoy". The GBA was a great machine, still is, with a top notch library. I hope the DS will someday have a library like it.
As for the stylus, I'm unimpressed. As others have said, I've gamed on a Pocket PC with a large, color touchscreen and stylus for years.
When the heck did I say plenty coming = huge lineup?
It's got a huge lineup right now, just go look. Check your favorite retailer, or whatnot. All the games I listed are OUT NOW, and they're just the tip of the iceberg. Games I didn't mention include Rengoku, FIFA, ATV Offroad, MLB, Tiger Woods, Ape Escape, NFL Street 2, World Tour Soccer, Gretzky, NBA, Spiderman 2, Dynasty Warriors, and I'm probably forgetting some.
And here's the thing, I know this is odd for DS owners... it has plenty coming soon as well. Exciting things like FPS games, Grand Theft Auto, old school RPGs, and even for some odd reason, Neopets. Let's not forget you can import any game you'd like, since they're region free. The Bleach 2D fighter (based on the popular anime) looks amazing. Personally, I'm waiting on Burnout Legends.
I'm simply saying what the DS owners I see tell me, and what it looks like as far as I can see. YMMV.
Honestly, if you find video converting hard, you really need to try another software. I'm not just saying that because this is Slashdot and you should know this, but because it really is incredibly, incredibly, simple.
Try PSP Video 9 for example. One click conversion with great sizes and quality on everything I've ported over so far, free.
I find it awful funny to say the PSP doesn't have many good games, and to specifically compliment the DS games. The #1 complaint I hear from DS FANS is that it has no games.
/w upgrades = Need for Speed /w weapons = Wipeout Pure
The PSP on the other hand has a huge library, enough for any tastes.
Arcade Racing = Ridge Racer
Street Racing
Future Racing
Puzzle = Lumines / Mercury
Fighting = Darkstalkers
Tactics / Action = Metal Gear Solid Acid
Fun Sports = Hot Shots Golf
Driving / Combat = Twisted Metal Head On
Action RPG = Untold Legends
RPG = Plenty coming
There's a poker game coming, an MMORPG, 2D fighting games, Burnout Legends, and a whole lot more. Rumors for a Sonic game even. To say the PSP has no games is ignoring the already HUGE lineup, in favor of what? Some new Mario games? The new Metroid could have sold me on the DS, if it was any good.
And while I agree the built in speaker sucks, the sound is great through the included ear buds.
Then why do you declare yourself a Christian?
Fair enough... A question I get from both some atheist and Christian friends from time to time. I think one can be open minded about the bible, about religion, about a whole lot of things and still be a Christian. There's a lot of people who will say differently, but that's just not the feeling I get.
As for why I'm a Christian as opposed to say, a Deist or Atheist, is simply a personal choice. I can't possibly claim to have factored every possible choice, but from my own experiences and from what I've seen, Christianity feels right to me. Deists pretty much believe in God through logic, they make no assumptions about after life, or any personal relationship with God. Christianity offers this, and assumes God does care.
Personally I believe much of modern Christianity is mislead, offtrack from it's true meaning. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe there's factors I would never think to even include, but I'd rather pick a religion that feels right for me than refuse to play at all because of uncertainty. In the end, I think all roads will lead to the same path... it's the time between now and then that differs.
I'm very angry when Christians assert that to be a Christian, you must believe the literal truth of the Bible, even though reading just the first few chapters of Genesis shows that the Bible contradicts itself and that any reasonable thinking person can't accept it all as literally true. I'm boggled that some Christians think that for something to contain wisdom and truth, it must be literally true-- is your view of God so amazingly simplistic?
Excellent post, thank you. I'm a Christian, and I've been called a non-Christian by other Christians just because I don't believe the bible is literally true. It astounds me. If you ask me, it is a representation of our understanding of religion a few thousand years ago. Much like our understanding of science has greatly evolved, so should our understanding of religion.
When it comes right down to it, Evangelicals will never deny a single word or give an inch because if one tiny bit is shown false, then the whole thing comes undone. They'll point to countless "proof" that they say "proves" the bible is true, whether they've actually read any of this for themselves or not. For that matter, it's usually surprising if they've actually read the Bible itself cover to cover... even though they claim it to be the factual word of God himself. A fewer percent still actually follow what is written.
Personally, I believe we can't possibly know what religion is right. I honestly don't believe that any decent non-Christian human is any worse than any decent Christian human. Thankfully, this idea is starting to spread. There's so many diverse ways to be a good person and show faith and love, it should be appreciated, not scorned. I liken it to sports... No matter what team you root for, you're still there for the love of the game.
What saddens me is when people get a theory in their head and they're convinced for life that it's the one and true choice. Evangelical Christians and Atheists alike. I've seen so many people look at religion, find a small issue, and suddenly become stone cold atheists for life. It's sad not because I think they're going to get some kind of ultimate punishment for making a judgment call, but because they're missing out on joy, love, and support just because they refuse to consider alternatives. They'll spend the rest of their lives trying to prove something they can't possibly prove, looking down on religions, and basically being no different than what they pointlessly despise.
In short, a little bit of tolerance and understanding on both sides of the fence would go a long way. The Evangelicals need to open their hearts and minds to others, and Atheists need to consider the beliefs of others, and stop stereotyping everyone into the same groups.
"War on Ignorance". The stated goal of such a war could be to educate the entire global population. To root out Ignorance and replace it with Truthful Knowledge would be the ongoing battle. As a side note, it would also help fight drug abuse and terrorism (religious fundamentalism) as well, since Ignorance lies at the root of those nasty human behaviors.
Ha ha, I can think of oh so many ways that would go wrong. Come on... War on Ignorance? Who are WE to declare a War on Ignorance? Have you seen half the stupid laws we pass or things we do? Do you have any idea what our so called Turthful Knowledge would be? That sounds like "Trusted Computing" to me.
I love my country, but come on... we need to fix our own education system before we go proclaiming our Truthful Knowledge to everyone else... enforcing it via a "war" no less. I can just imagine what we'd do to folks who disagree with our knowledge. Our Truthful Knowledge as currently presented is a joke.
I believe in both instances you meant "shouldn't deprive others", and here here.
For future reference, you may want to use "plain old text" formatting instead of HTML, saves on the headache.
Microsoft will buy Adobe... and with the combined power of Flash and Photoshop, MS Paint will PWN.
"The reason they're worse is because there aren't really good free alternatives."
You mean like, Quicktime Alternative or Real Alternative through Media Player Classic?
On the subject of free language software, I'd like to point one out. I've used Supermemo 7 for a long time now, and have had great results for it. It may be old, but it works like a charm. It's an intelligent flashcard program of sorts that can store thousands of entries and repeat them only as needed.
Please ignore the ugly image at the bottom of this page, it's not a representation of what the program looks like, and download it from the tiny links at the very bottom.
http://www.supermemo.com/articles/soft/sm7.htm