As someone who plays these things all the time, it's not that hard. You need a decent headset (speakers will NOT cut it! A wonderful way to die.) and a good multichannel sound card (to avoid skipping and crap), but if you've got a recent machine you probably have this already. When you first start you'll find it strange; things sound just real enough to screw you up (unless you're playing the "arcade style" games and then everything sounds totally fake). If you've never played any sort of audio game, I'd start with dark destroyer. Yeah, the voiceover and script in this is really, really, really tacky, and it's sort of a rip off of troopanum, but it still somehow manages to be entertaining. Once you're able to hit stuff without seeing it, then move on to shades of doom. I would make some sort of comment about this, accept I must be the only blind person unable to win at this game and it makes me sad. I always get lost and then I fall into a pit and die. The layout in this is simple, too. I'm just unable to shoot at stuff and worry about energy and weapons and keep track of where the hell I am. I haven't yet figured out if this is because of the design of the game; nobody has given me the oppertunity to shoot at stuff and keep track of weapons while wandering round a research base in real life yet. I'm available, though.
Oh, and in closing, the best review quote from the www.audiogames.net website is:
"The game sounds a bit like a recording of Jim's porn collection mixed with the Simpsons."
Only in an audio game. No, it's not nearly as much fun as it sounds.
I've always found Santa Claus a much more authoritative morality figure. "You better not cry, you better not pout...". What more could you ask for in moral instruction?
There are. I've seen and done it, mostly as server owner for a small (usually three or so servers, twenty channels, fifty users, lots of servers because one or the other were always in some state of broken (read: running windows)) irc network that folded up a while ago. Why someone thought an irc network run off a few peoples broadband connections would be a good place for the next botnet I will never know.
Ah, sorry. Should have done my research; one of our local radio stations had a.fm domain and a local tv station has.tv so I just assumed that's what they were for without really bothering to double check. If we want to make a list of the mismanaged, we'd have to ad.to and.cx also.:-) Countries who won't or can't make correct use of their tld should have it taken away. I'd say.fr is the best managed tld, from what I've heard. Oh, and countries should be required to have a standard usage of the tld space. For example,.co.uk means commercial uk, but.co.ca is not commercial Canada; Canada splits into.on.ca,.qc.ca, etc on a provincial system. The world should use one or the other. Heck, if it were me people who have a.com and aren't a company would have it taken away and get a large fine and/or prison term. Same for any other misuse of a tld. The tlds were all created for a reason. It should be strictly enforced.
You should be under your country code..net domains are strictly for websites that run internet backbones or have some involvement in the infrastructure of the internet (arin, etc)..org are for organizations,.com for companies, and everything else should go under your country tld. All of the new tlds (.biz,.info,.tv,.fm, etc) and the American tlds (.mil,.edu), and the mismanaged country tlds (like.tk) are the work of satan and should be ignored.
I had to not read the article, as the ads required cookies. I refuse to visit websites that require cookies, slashdot is the only one that gets a cookie because it's unavoidable and if thousands of geeks everywhere are taking cookies from slashdot it must be safe. I wish people would just learn about session handling and get rid of the internet crapflood of cookies. I really, really, really, really hate those things.
If it's manners we're talking about, the most polite thing to do is write a self contained reply without any quoting at all. Then again, this will never happen. It's hard enough to get people to quote properly.:-)
If you're going to bottom post, at least, DO IT THE RIGHT WAY!!! I can't tell you how many people I know who have a message that starts with a long header containing the user who sent the original message, the to: line, the date, and the subject before getting to the quoted bits and then the comments. If you insist on posting at the bottom, your header should take up no more than one line like: A. User said:
Oh, and I hate the people who get original with the header line and use something like: A. User cast the following comments in my general direction:
It's too long and distracts from the point. I also don't understand why the date is at all included in these one line efforts. Oh, and don't leavve your bloody signature at the *top* of the message! If your email program (outlook express) puts it there, either top post or move it!
I think wordpress and MT have done that already. A wordpress install on my system took me about 10 seconds and I was running. Sure, you have to already be a half geek (wordpress requires no programming or even real understanding of anything but chmod), but you forget that just because you're good with computers doesn't mean that you have something worthwhile to say. I mean, look at slashdot!
I'm surprised so many people seem to care, and that the if-comp even gets/. coverage. Being visually impaired, I always assumed I, and maybe the authors, was the only one who bothered with these things, sort of like weblogs (the only people who read weblogs have webblogs). I know of the news groups, but I don't have a news server so have no involvement with them. With audio games (http://www.audiogames.net) even most blind people have stopped playing interactive fiction.
People that have anything to do with freeipod should get a permanant ban. Both by IP, email address, username, etc. Also slashdot should filter out any URL with freeflatscreens or freeipod or whatever.
Temperary? What a joke! There are services for the express purpose of blocking dynamic ips. That's not "temperary". We're on our third isp here in an attempt to stay off blacklists. No spam has ever come from us, but we're paying for it anyway. We're with igs.net now, by the way.
Blind people seem to be doing just fine. All they need, usually, is Photo-ID. If they actually ask for a "drivers license" in Canada you can bitch at them. Not all people who can get them have drivers licenses, you know. They are also doing fine. That argument is just silly. Anyway, please explain to me the difference between a drivers license and a "national ID" card or what ever, other than that it wouldn't be overseen by the DMV. They would all contain personal info, the majority of people would have them, they can be used for proof of age etc, they can be tracked if needed, you have to carry it if you're traveling a long way (IE driving), you can be arrested while traveling if yours isn't in order.
See? That's why I won't run any IM programs anymore. I just want to type. I don't want icons or pictures or alerts or file transfors. I want to type at someone, and I really don't want to get much closer to a bunch of random morons with computers, thank you. And I don't want to talk to you unless you have something to say. I hate IM for peoples desire to message you when they don't really, in point of fact, actually have anything to say.
What's needed here, I think, is a badly done awful looking website complete with TEXT IN ALL CAPS and spelling and logic errors pointing out that warez and mp3s are against God's law, with graphical descriptions of hackers burning in hell. Extra points for assertions that all hackers are homosexuals/rapists/what ever. I haven't found one yet; there's a real market people! Just think of all the entertaining spam these guys could generate!
For the last little while, winamp has just been a load of AOL out of date crap, used only by the masses because of the market share it got when it was a leader, and kept up only by the fact that it's not quite as bad as Microsoft or Real Player. Winamp hasn't done anything new in more than a year; this is nothing new. Foobar is clearly in the lead, and I for one will be glad to see winamp go. One less AOL icon installing peace of crapware on the internet!!!
What currently used file formats can winamp play with out plugins? Ogg and mp3 last I checked. Everything else requires you to hunt through masses of (mostly crappy) plugins to find what you want. Foobar also uses plugins, but they come built in, and all of the popular file formats are supported. The only place that foobar falls short on is midi files; in everything else, it's a winner (dsp, general, lossless formats, etc).
Do I see...a double standard? We can't expect software companies to respect the IP of people when people don't respect there IP in return. I'm surprised we haven't seen Microsoft/Photoshop/etc violate the GPL yet. Before getting on our high horses, how about we all go and validate our registration keys?
Browser wars don't mean improvement. They mean: -- more coding work for responsible developers who need to get everything working on all platforms -- a general increase in the amount of sites who viciously flame you for using the wrong browser, even though you may have absolutely no choice in the matter (corporate requirements, screen reading technology, outdated machines, etc) --Microsoft morons purposely coding sites only to work with Internet Explorer --Open source Morons purposely coding sites only to work with firefox --even less support for minority browsers (safari, web tv, etcc) -- more bad feeling between developers -- more crap coming down the pipe to users who must now have two browsers installed instead of one
I realize this has to happen. But I don't have to like it. "war" in any form is never any good. As the above poster said, this will be a war.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, I think you were looking for this, then.
Sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist. What you really wanted was this. Screenshots here and here.
Silly posts get silly answers. :-)
Cheats work like they work in every other game (I think).
As someone who plays these things all the time, it's not that hard. You need a decent headset (speakers will NOT cut it! A wonderful way to die.) and a good multichannel sound card (to avoid skipping and crap), but if you've got a recent machine you probably have this already. When you first start you'll find it strange; things sound just real enough to screw you up (unless you're playing the "arcade style" games and then everything sounds totally fake). If you've never played any sort of audio game, I'd start with dark destroyer. Yeah, the voiceover and script in this is really, really, really tacky, and it's sort of a rip off of troopanum, but it still somehow manages to be entertaining. Once you're able to hit stuff without seeing it, then move on to shades of doom. I would make some sort of comment about this, accept I must be the only blind person unable to win at this game and it makes me sad. I always get lost and then I fall into a pit and die. The layout in this is simple, too. I'm just unable to shoot at stuff and worry about energy and weapons and keep track of where the hell I am. I haven't yet figured out if this is because of the design of the game; nobody has given me the oppertunity to shoot at stuff and keep track of weapons while wandering round a research base in real life yet. I'm available, though. Oh, and in closing, the best review quote from the www.audiogames.net website is: "The game sounds a bit like a recording of Jim's porn collection mixed with the Simpsons." Only in an audio game. No, it's not nearly as much fun as it sounds.
I've always found Santa Claus a much more authoritative morality figure. "You better not cry, you better not pout...". What more could you ask for in moral instruction?
There are. I've seen and done it, mostly as server owner for a small (usually three or so servers, twenty channels, fifty users, lots of servers because one or the other were always in some state of broken (read: running windows)) irc network that folded up a while ago. Why someone thought an irc network run off a few peoples broadband connections would be a good place for the next botnet I will never know.
Ah, sorry. Should have done my research; one of our local radio stations had a .fm domain and a local tv station has .tv so I just assumed that's what they were for without really bothering to double check. If we want to make a list of the mismanaged, we'd have to ad .to and .cx also. :-) Countries who won't or can't make correct use of their tld should have it taken away. I'd say .fr is the best managed tld, from what I've heard. Oh, and countries should be required to have a standard usage of the tld space. For example, .co.uk means commercial uk, but .co.ca is not commercial Canada; Canada splits into .on.ca, .qc.ca, etc on a provincial system. The world should use one or the other. Heck, if it were me people who have a .com and aren't a company would have it taken away and get a large fine and/or prison term. Same for any other misuse of a tld. The tlds were all created for a reason. It should be strictly enforced.
You should be under your country code. .net domains are strictly for websites that run internet backbones or have some involvement in the infrastructure of the internet (arin, etc). .org are for organizations, .com for companies, and everything else should go under your country tld. All of the new tlds (.biz, .info, .tv, .fm, etc) and the American tlds (.mil, .edu), and the mismanaged country tlds (like .tk) are the work of satan and should be ignored.
Aldous Huxley's 1984? I, personally, was reminded of George Orwell's 1984. Maybe it's just me.
I had to not read the article, as the ads required cookies. I refuse to visit websites that require cookies, slashdot is the only one that gets a cookie because it's unavoidable and if thousands of geeks everywhere are taking cookies from slashdot it must be safe. I wish people would just learn about session handling and get rid of the internet crapflood of cookies. I really, really, really, really hate those things.
When the crying babies get cellphones, then it's time to be afraid.
If it's manners we're talking about, the most polite thing to do is write a self contained reply without any quoting at all. Then again, this will never happen. It's hard enough to get people to quote properly. :-)
If you're going to bottom post, at least, DO IT THE RIGHT WAY!!! I can't tell you how many people I know who have a message that starts with a long header containing the user who sent the original message, the to: line, the date, and the subject before getting to the quoted bits and then the comments. If you insist on posting at the bottom, your header should take up no more than one line like:
A. User said:
Oh, and I hate the people who get original with the header line and use something like:
A. User cast the following comments in my general direction:
It's too long and distracts from the point. I also don't understand why the date is at all included in these one line efforts. Oh, and don't leavve your bloody signature at the *top* of the message! If your email program (outlook express) puts it there, either top post or move it!
I think wordpress and MT have done that already. A wordpress install on my system took me about 10 seconds and I was running. Sure, you have to already be a half geek (wordpress requires no programming or even real understanding of anything but chmod), but you forget that just because you're good with computers doesn't mean that you have something worthwhile to say. I mean, look at slashdot!
I'm surprised so many people seem to care, and that the if-comp even gets /. coverage. Being visually impaired, I always assumed I, and maybe the authors, was the only one who bothered with these things, sort of like weblogs (the only people who read weblogs have webblogs). I know of the news groups, but I don't have a news server so have no involvement with them. With audio games (http://www.audiogames.net) even most blind people have stopped playing interactive fiction.
People that have anything to do with freeipod should get a permanant ban. Both by IP, email address, username, etc. Also slashdot should filter out any URL with freeflatscreens or freeipod or whatever.
Temperary? What a joke! There are services for the express purpose of blocking dynamic ips. That's not "temperary". We're on our third isp here in an attempt to stay off blacklists. No spam has ever come from us, but we're paying for it anyway. We're with igs.net now, by the way.
I'd think anyone on IRC would be a complete moron, but then, many criminals tend to be complete morons.
lol hahahaha! jk! brb
Blind people seem to be doing just fine. All they need, usually, is Photo-ID. If they actually ask for a "drivers license" in Canada you can bitch at them. Not all people who can get them have drivers licenses, you know. They are also doing fine. That argument is just silly. Anyway, please explain to me the difference between a drivers license and a "national ID" card or what ever, other than that it wouldn't be overseen by the DMV. They would all contain personal info, the majority of people would have them, they can be used for proof of age etc, they can be tracked if needed, you have to carry it if you're traveling a long way (IE driving), you can be arrested while traveling if yours isn't in order.
So...who's delivering the traffic jams to you?
See? That's why I won't run any IM programs anymore. I just want to type. I don't want icons or pictures or alerts or file transfors. I want to type at someone, and I really don't want to get much closer to a bunch of random morons with computers, thank you. And I don't want to talk to you unless you have something to say. I hate IM for peoples desire to message you when they don't really, in point of fact, actually have anything to say.
Why'd they even post a jpg? All that was needed was the text:
LISTB INFOICRD 2000-04-06 IENG Deepz0ne ISFT Sound Forge 4.5
It's as easy to fake JPG as text, so that's not it. Maybe it's just our societies obsession with using as much bandwidth as we can?
What's needed here, I think, is a badly done awful looking website complete with TEXT IN ALL CAPS and spelling and logic errors pointing out that warez and mp3s are against God's law, with graphical descriptions of hackers burning in hell. Extra points for assertions that all hackers are homosexuals/rapists/what ever. I haven't found one yet; there's a real market people! Just think of all the entertaining spam these guys could generate!
For the last little while, winamp has just been a load of AOL out of date crap, used only by the masses because of the market share it got when it was a leader, and kept up only by the fact that it's not quite as bad as Microsoft or Real Player. Winamp hasn't done anything new in more than a year; this is nothing new. Foobar is clearly in the lead, and I for one will be glad to see winamp go. One less AOL icon installing peace of crapware on the internet!!!
What currently used file formats can winamp play with out plugins? Ogg and mp3 last I checked. Everything else requires you to hunt through masses of (mostly crappy) plugins to find what you want. Foobar also uses plugins, but they come built in, and all of the popular file formats are supported. The only place that foobar falls short on is midi files; in everything else, it's a winner (dsp, general, lossless formats, etc).
Do I see...a double standard? We can't expect software companies to respect the IP of people when people don't respect there IP in return. I'm surprised we haven't seen Microsoft/Photoshop/etc violate the GPL yet. Before getting on our high horses, how about we all go and validate our registration keys?
Browser wars don't mean improvement. They mean:
-- more coding work for responsible developers who need to get everything working on all platforms
-- a general increase in the amount of sites who viciously flame you for using the wrong browser, even though you may have absolutely no choice in the matter (corporate requirements, screen reading technology, outdated machines, etc)
--Microsoft morons purposely coding sites only to work with Internet Explorer
--Open source Morons purposely coding sites only to work with firefox
--even less support for minority browsers (safari, web tv, etcc)
-- more bad feeling between developers
-- more crap coming down the pipe to users who must now have two browsers installed instead of one
I realize this has to happen. But I don't have to like it. "war" in any form is never any good. As the above poster said, this will be a war.