I've hated mapquest for years, their maps are small, nasty, and slow to scroll about. I'd rather look at a roadmap and pick a path than use them. In that regard, google maps (or this new MSN map thingy) are extremely nice, since I can figure out where to go, and switch to satellite at turns to pick out landmarks.
The MSN one does have some impressive, albeit colorless, images. Google should try and get their sources to fill in the low-res areas in their maps (which I think have higher quality where they are high-res).
I find the best controller for SC2 to be the old (big) xbox controller, since it has six face buttons in two rows, and its handy to set the extra two buttons to horizontal+kick and vertical+kick. I still don't understand why they quit making those, I would've left them on-market along with the smaller ones (which are also nice for certain games). Either one beats a PS2 controller by a mile, which is so small and lacking-of-grip that it makes my hands cramp.
Still got a Rio500, its still got one of the best button interfaces around, and its trivial to make waterproof. Used to carry it around all the time, until it occurred to me that I was becoming increasingly sociopathic by ignoring people around me, so I stopped. Of course, since I've stopped, everyone else has become sociopathic anyway, so everything's about the same.
Actually, Tecras run with almost no noticable heat unless you stress the 3D cards in them. As soon as the 3D card gets used, an extra fan turns on, and it vents hot exhaust out the left side. Strangely, after prolonged use, the vent air actually cools off quite a bit. During this the bottom gets a bit warm, but overall the vent keeps the system pretty cool (the bottom is nowhere near 45.6C and the exhaust air is hotter than the bottom). Wouldn't want to think about that fan breaking though.
I actually completely agree. With an analog thumbstick I actually have to aim, as opposed to just instintively pointing the mouse. I also like having a trigger (at least on an xbox/dreamcast controller), as opposed to a mouse button. Its a lot more satisfying to play an FPS when it takes a bit of effort to make shots, as opposed to just pointing and clicking, at least if shooting is the only thing going on. I still enjoyed Deus Ex/Deus Ex 2 on PC, but those usually involved a bit more than shooting (and had less accurate weapons to compensate for the mouse aiming).
Well, I know a guy, that though he doesn't play the MMOPOS things, used to play quite a bit of D&D... he always played an evil monk, and spent most of his time slapping people and trying to steal things from them (both PCs and NPCs). Granted, he was inevitably killed. I'm somewhat suprised that he never got involved with the MMOs, though perhaps its since I don't think any of them have good means of stealing (he loved Morrowind, for obvious reasons).
I never considered golf, darts, or bowling (amongst others) to be sports since there is no means for any player to affect any other player's score... they're all just single player games with score comparisons at the end (like comparing centipede scores or whatnot). I don't understand why they're considered sports at all.
Mount & Blade is very much out, I've been playing it for a while in several forms. They're releasing the stable works-in-progress as the game is built. Combat is more or less complete (and is excellent), and the author is currently working on a module editor to write the actual plot/quest/dialog bits for the game (since it is now basically a open world with a war and an economic model and some 'random' missions).
The mac had a fair number of viruses back around 1992-1994 when OS7 came out. At that point many schools were buying color macs (II series, then centra, then quadra) since they were far superior (graphically and in some means, performance-wise) to the PCs at that point. This happened to coincide with the beginning of internet use and networking in many schools, and quite a few viruses got prolific amongst the macs, at least in my school system. The only half-decent AV product at the time was from Norton, but even it was awful since it was really slow and wrote about 10MB of files in directories which the mac GUI couldn't locate (which was a fairly nasty surprise given how small hard discs were then)... it was nasty. I remember moving to win95B boxes (we skipped 95 initially) and being impressed with having fewer viruses and nuisances than on the mac. Granted, things have changed a bit.
VT used to do that, but it was easy to evade, since it was MAC based filtering, not the actual ports in the rooms... unplug, switch the MAC on your router, plug back in, and you were good to go. It was a bit of a nuisance sometimes since it meant the external IP kept changing, but was definitely worth it.
Everyone should play it! Its the only game where you can ride around in a giant robot, wielding the severed arm of another giant robot, and smash ninjas and zombies!
That aside, its an excellent final-fight style brawler with some RPGish character stats and abilities, and its also great fun.
That is nearly the best shooter ever made, and certainly the best on the DC, yet for some reason it got completely overlooked after Ikaruga came out (which was the much lesser game, it only had 2 good levels).
Why would I need a Mac to play Marathon? Just get AlephOne and download the files to 'em. Only thing I regret is not being able to play some of the Marathon 2 and Infinity total conversions, like Marathon Red.
Did Connectix really win that case? I thought they lost. They pulled VGS from the market after it ended, anyway. And its around the same time that Bleem! (which was awful) died as well.
I would love to see a publication start covering the shareware market.
In the last three years or so (growing broadband?) it seems to me that the shareware market has been experiencing a renaissance, and is releasing many exceptional games now. A few of the better releases lately have been Air Strike 3D 2, Alien Shooter, Demonstar (Secret Missions 1 & 2), Jets n' Guns, Mount and Blade, Starscape, and Ultra Assault. There have also been some excellent freeware games, such as Nexuiz or any of Kenta Cho's shooters.
While there are a few sites which cover these titles and review them (diygames comes to mind), there is no well known or published site which tracks their releases and reviews them in a timely manner (think Gamespot, but for shareware/freeware).
Strangely, I like FPS games on the console more lately since they offer good control (well, now they do, the early ones were terrible) but are not as precise as the mouse... The mouse makes everyone a dead-aim since its so instinctive to point it at something and click, while the two-thumbstick rig makes everyone actually work a bit to aim. Since most of the satisfaction in FPSs comes from managing to hit things (and explode them into bloody chunks), I am usually more entertained by having to work a bit for my hits. The only PC FPS I really play anymore is UT'04, and that's only on my laptop when I travel.
Slashdot Mirror
Methinks "methinks" is a right proper word, meself.
Actually, MS has some roads on their named overlays in Gloucester, VA that haven't existed for at least 10 years. So its old images and old data.
I've hated mapquest for years, their maps are small, nasty, and slow to scroll about. I'd rather look at a roadmap and pick a path than use them. In that regard, google maps (or this new MSN map thingy) are extremely nice, since I can figure out where to go, and switch to satellite at turns to pick out landmarks.
The MSN one does have some impressive, albeit colorless, images. Google should try and get their sources to fill in the low-res areas in their maps (which I think have higher quality where they are high-res).
I find the best controller for SC2 to be the old (big) xbox controller, since it has six face buttons in two rows, and its handy to set the extra two buttons to horizontal+kick and vertical+kick. I still don't understand why they quit making those, I would've left them on-market along with the smaller ones (which are also nice for certain games). Either one beats a PS2 controller by a mile, which is so small and lacking-of-grip that it makes my hands cramp.
Still got a Rio500, its still got one of the best button interfaces around, and its trivial to make waterproof. Used to carry it around all the time, until it occurred to me that I was becoming increasingly sociopathic by ignoring people around me, so I stopped. Of course, since I've stopped, everyone else has become sociopathic anyway, so everything's about the same.
Actually, Tecras run with almost no noticable heat unless you stress the 3D cards in them. As soon as the 3D card gets used, an extra fan turns on, and it vents hot exhaust out the left side. Strangely, after prolonged use, the vent air actually cools off quite a bit. During this the bottom gets a bit warm, but overall the vent keeps the system pretty cool (the bottom is nowhere near 45.6C and the exhaust air is hotter than the bottom). Wouldn't want to think about that fan breaking though.
Typewriters=?
I actually completely agree. With an analog thumbstick I actually have to aim, as opposed to just instintively pointing the mouse. I also like having a trigger (at least on an xbox/dreamcast controller), as opposed to a mouse button. Its a lot more satisfying to play an FPS when it takes a bit of effort to make shots, as opposed to just pointing and clicking, at least if shooting is the only thing going on. I still enjoyed Deus Ex/Deus Ex 2 on PC, but those usually involved a bit more than shooting (and had less accurate weapons to compensate for the mouse aiming).
Well, I know a guy, that though he doesn't play the MMOPOS things, used to play quite a bit of D&D... he always played an evil monk, and spent most of his time slapping people and trying to steal things from them (both PCs and NPCs). Granted, he was inevitably killed. I'm somewhat suprised that he never got involved with the MMOs, though perhaps its since I don't think any of them have good means of stealing (he loved Morrowind, for obvious reasons).
I never considered golf, darts, or bowling (amongst others) to be sports since there is no means for any player to affect any other player's score... they're all just single player games with score comparisons at the end (like comparing centipede scores or whatnot). I don't understand why they're considered sports at all.
I like it... you think this would be implementable in something like SoF2?
While I would love a Morrowind or System Shock-like game set in Shadowrun, I'll cough up my skull if they make another bleeding MMOPOS out of it.
Mount & Blade is very much out, I've been playing it for a while in several forms. They're releasing the stable works-in-progress as the game is built. Combat is more or less complete (and is excellent), and the author is currently working on a module editor to write the actual plot/quest/dialog bits for the game (since it is now basically a open world with a war and an economic model and some 'random' missions).
Wouldn't that require 7?
The mac had a fair number of viruses back around 1992-1994 when OS7 came out. At that point many schools were buying color macs (II series, then centra, then quadra) since they were far superior (graphically and in some means, performance-wise) to the PCs at that point. This happened to coincide with the beginning of internet use and networking in many schools, and quite a few viruses got prolific amongst the macs, at least in my school system. The only half-decent AV product at the time was from Norton, but even it was awful since it was really slow and wrote about 10MB of files in directories which the mac GUI couldn't locate (which was a fairly nasty surprise given how small hard discs were then)... it was nasty. I remember moving to win95B boxes (we skipped 95 initially) and being impressed with having fewer viruses and nuisances than on the mac. Granted, things have changed a bit.
VT used to do that, but it was easy to evade, since it was MAC based filtering, not the actual ports in the rooms... unplug, switch the MAC on your router, plug back in, and you were good to go. It was a bit of a nuisance sometimes since it meant the external IP kept changing, but was definitely worth it.
The best three indy games so far (just look on google for URLs, I haven't them on me at the moment):
Zombie Smashers X2
Jets n' Guns
Mount & Blade
Everyone should play it! Its the only game where you can ride around in a giant robot, wielding the severed arm of another giant robot, and smash ninjas and zombies!
That aside, its an excellent final-fight style brawler with some RPGish character stats and abilities, and its also great fun.
It is? So where can I get some 5.7mm hardball if its so legal?
That is nearly the best shooter ever made, and certainly the best on the DC, yet for some reason it got completely overlooked after Ikaruga came out (which was the much lesser game, it only had 2 good levels).
Why would I need a Mac to play Marathon? Just get AlephOne and download the files to 'em. Only thing I regret is not being able to play some of the Marathon 2 and Infinity total conversions, like Marathon Red.
Anybody know?
Did Connectix really win that case? I thought they lost. They pulled VGS from the market after it ended, anyway. And its around the same time that Bleem! (which was awful) died as well.
I would love to see a publication start covering the shareware market.
In the last three years or so (growing broadband?) it seems to me that the shareware market has been experiencing a renaissance, and is releasing many exceptional games now. A few of the better releases lately have been Air Strike 3D 2, Alien Shooter, Demonstar (Secret Missions 1 & 2), Jets n' Guns, Mount and Blade, Starscape, and Ultra Assault. There have also been some excellent freeware games, such as Nexuiz or any of Kenta Cho's shooters.
While there are a few sites which cover these titles and review them (diygames comes to mind), there is no well known or published site which tracks their releases and reviews them in a timely manner (think Gamespot, but for shareware/freeware).
Strangely, I like FPS games on the console more lately since they offer good control (well, now they do, the early ones were terrible) but are not as precise as the mouse... The mouse makes everyone a dead-aim since its so instinctive to point it at something and click, while the two-thumbstick rig makes everyone actually work a bit to aim. Since most of the satisfaction in FPSs comes from managing to hit things (and explode them into bloody chunks), I am usually more entertained by having to work a bit for my hits. The only PC FPS I really play anymore is UT'04, and that's only on my laptop when I travel.