After about the fourth or fifth interval the apparitions and Alma/Paxton Fettel start hurting you, and in the 9th-11th it's mainly Alma/Paxton Fettel battling you, even though the soldiers are still there. If you haven't finished it, at least give it another shot and try to finish it through. The ending of the game is just insane. That's just my opinion of course! I've heard rumors that there's two more in the works (FEAR 2/3) but that's just a rumor... (Though I hope it's true!)
F.E.A.R. is simply the creepiest game that I've ever played. It screws with your mind the entire time, people appearing and when you get close disintegrating, that little girl Alma always watching from some hidden corner. There's the usual scare tactics of stuff jumping at you - walking down a hallway in the middle of it someone's body flys through an office window into the hall dead. But then you walk into the office and there's nobody there. Or you'll be walking down a hall and all of a sudden a white flash and you're running through a pool of blood in slow motion. It's truly a great game.
Doom 3 was pretty scary, but it was mostly just jump/shit-your-pants tactics such as stuff jumping out at you from the dark... Not to mention that that game was dark the entire time and that kind of ruined it.
Half-Life 2 had its moments as well, as was mentioned in the story, Ravenholm was scary. I don't really remember many other parts of HL2 that were incredibly scary though.
F.E.A.R. was just downright creepy from the start, and it just gets creepier as you go.
Actually, with the GDI+ bug last year, which Microsoft has fixed in XP SP2, it's possible for a JPEG to contain executable code. There's plenty of people not running XP SP2 though.
I'm sure you're just trolling, but if not, read the article yet again, and read the whole thing this time.
The cure isn't "RELEASE TEH PLAGUE." The interesting bit is a gene mutation regarding CCR5 that was found to stop HIV dead in its tracks, preventing it from binding to the white blood cells. The treatment that they're working on mimics this by binding to the CCR5 receptor in white blood cells, which would block HIV from binding. Tests were done on blood samples from people with this gene mutation, and the results were always negative. The people with the gene mutation are immune to HIV.
Right, because those thousands of Linux servers are capable of running ASP.NET, which Microsoft uses extensively... Er, no. Akamai also has Windows servers, which Microsoft uses.
Yeah, there's so many neat gadgets for music out these days. I mostly play guitar live, so I don't really have a use for the Receptor either, but it could be useful to some. On another random note, check this out: the Continuum is the most bizarre keyboardish device I've ever seen. Check out the Jordan Rudess demo there, it's really sweet what this thing does. Too bad they're so damn expensive ($5000!) or I'd get one.
Howabout the Receptor? I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I'm assuming you might have heard the name since you're into pro audio/recording. If not, it's a stand alone rackmount VST host. It's basically a normal computer, just very specialized. It's a large unit, 2U rackmount, but still very wonderful for live gigs. Since it isn't overly bloated, it can get 1 millisecond latency without a problem even for some of the very large VST collections. Hook it up to an LCD and keyboard/mouse for programming, get it set up, then control it from your keyboard.:)
Analog audio generally produces distortion, and tube amps also produce noticeable distortion. If you want to accurately reproduce the sound that was recorded you're going to want a transistor amplifier, and a digital source. Using vinyl and a tube amp will make the sound warmer, but the sound will no be what the artists intended you to hear. That warm sound that you get from a tube amp is just that, small amounts of distortion. I personally wouldn't ever want to use a tube amp to listen to anything - the sound simply isn't right.
For recording, on the other hand, tubes are absolutely amazing. I use several tube amps when recording, mostly for guitar and bass distortion, but also occasionally for keys and vocals to warm up the sound. There are some cases when transistor amps are nice for guitar - when you want a really biting harsh sound. As for vocals and keyboard, when you record straight in to a digital device without a tube preamp the resulting sound is very dry and dull.
When it comes to listening to what I've recorded, reproducing exactly what I recorded in an flat form is what I want to be able to do, and that isn't possible with a tube amp.
I get 2 ms latency with my Audigy, but that's only for recording purposes using ASIO. Not to mention it eats up a hefty bit of CPU time when I'm doing that, and I'm on a dual 3.2 GHz Xeon system... Outside of my recording software I don't know what kind of latency it gets, probably something like 100 milliseconds.
I'm just reinforcing your point, it's possible to get two milliseconds in software, but anything below that is pushing it. Some of the really high end systems (Echo Layla for example) can get less than one millisecond latency using ASIO or WDM, but those are just that - high end cards which run upwards of $600. This of course doesn't even cover the issue of speaker placement and processor time...
That's a common misconception. "It comes with the OS" is not the same as "It is tightly integrated into the OS." Explorer and IE are not the same program. They're two seperate ActiveX controls, which is a bizarre way of doing things, but that's how Microsoft did it. Using COM, Explorer can invoke IE when necessary and IE can invoke Explorer when necessary. IE is a seperate program, and just like Firefox it runs user level and in its own memory space.
The problem lies in the exploits for IE that allow arbitrary code to be run, or ActiveX controls to be installed just by the user clicking Yes. In fact, most of the time the spyware installs are just simple social engineering. Microsoft should have been able to fix this issue ages ago, as you said, and there's no reason for them not to have done it by now. It seems like it's going to be better in IE 7, but I'm not holding my breath.
If there was a hole in Firefox/Win32 that allowed arbitrary code to be run, you'd see spyware getting installed through Firefox within a week or so of the exploit's release. It probably wouldn't affect us geeks who update religiously, since Mozilla fixes the holes faster than people can exploit them. It would however affect people who don't know better and are still using an older version, like my grandma who uses 1.0.4. Off topic, I would have updated that by now but she lives in San Diego and I live in Miami. Hell for all I know she might have updated it herself.:P
I personally am a FreeBSD guy, but I must say I've looked at Gentoo's portage system and it's astoundingly awesome. They took the basic idea and tree behind ports and made it very easy to use and update via emerge. It's worth a look, even if you don't wind up using it. I'm sticking with FreeBSD as I love the way the userland and system sources are set up, but I can't deny that Gentoo has done something amazing.:)
I was talking to Todd Howard when I was over at BethSoft, which I mentioned in a previous post of mine. He said that a GeForce 6600 GT would be able to cut it at nearly maximum details. Same goes with a Radeon X600 Pro. The lowest you'd want to try is something along the lines of GeForce 5600/Radeon 9600 to run decently. I'm sure it'll run on lower cards than that, but I'm not sure how well. I don't know what specs they'll put as minimum/reccomended on the box, this is just what I remember him saying.
I believe their demo machine had a GeForce 6800 GT, and that ran it at maximum details at 1280x1024 without much of a problem. I boosted it up to 1600x1200 just to see how it ran at that, and it wasn't too bad.
I don't think a lot has changed engine wise since then, and if anything it'll be faster than when I saw it.
I played around it about 5 months ago for a little while at the BethSoft HQ. I'm friends with the CEO of ZeniMax, so he got me in for a tour and such. The video doesn't do it justice at all! Seeing and interacting with it, even in the early alpha stages, was just amazing. Especially since it was 1600x1200 on a 21 inch display. It's absolutely beautiful, and I've never seen anything like it before.
Also, I believe Todd boosted the speed of decisions Radiant AI makes for the demo video. When I saw Radiant in action the NPCs didn't jump around from one activity to the next that fast.
I'd post a link to the video so other people can see it, but it's 120 megs and I don't want to waste all of my bandwidth. If anyone DOES want to see it, shoot me an e-mail at "me at thalagyrt dot com", and I'll send you a link to it. There's also an active torrent going around if you want to search for that.
Yes I have as a matter of fact, and I've lived on a 200 foor yacht for upwards of a week in Greece, not to mention easily the 10 100-120 footers I've been on for vacations. I realize it's a moving target, however in a harbor the amount of motion is fairly small. Ever been on a boat?
Actually if you read the article or even looked the Death Ray up, Archimedes supposedly used his death ray from land to target ships anchored within bow and arrow distance.
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After about the fourth or fifth interval the apparitions and Alma/Paxton Fettel start hurting you, and in the 9th-11th it's mainly Alma/Paxton Fettel battling you, even though the soldiers are still there. If you haven't finished it, at least give it another shot and try to finish it through. The ending of the game is just insane. That's just my opinion of course! I've heard rumors that there's two more in the works (FEAR 2/3) but that's just a rumor... (Though I hope it's true!)
Yeah, I already replied to him clarifying that it was late at night and my humor receptors weren't working properly. :P
Doom 3 was pretty scary, but it was mostly just jump/shit-your-pants tactics such as stuff jumping out at you from the dark... Not to mention that that game was dark the entire time and that kind of ruined it.
Half-Life 2 had its moments as well, as was mentioned in the story, Ravenholm was scary. I don't really remember many other parts of HL2 that were incredibly scary though.
F.E.A.R. was just downright creepy from the start, and it just gets creepier as you go.
Here's the Microsoft article on it: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin /MS04-028.mspx
Yeah, it was too late at night, my humor receptors weren't working properly. Taking another look at your post I see it was a joke. :P
The cure isn't "RELEASE TEH PLAGUE." The interesting bit is a gene mutation regarding CCR5 that was found to stop HIV dead in its tracks, preventing it from binding to the white blood cells. The treatment that they're working on mimics this by binding to the CCR5 receptor in white blood cells, which would block HIV from binding. Tests were done on blood samples from people with this gene mutation, and the results were always negative. The people with the gene mutation are immune to HIV.
Cool. I'll have to check that out sometime, throw it on my test server and play with it. :)
I don't see the 7800 GT in their store at all, I wonder why they'd mention it in a press release but not make it an option? :|
Yeah, I have. I didn't think that through properly before I posted it. My mistake. :)
Oh, yeah, I forgot about that one. Does it support everything .NET does though? I'm not too familiar with it.
Right, because those thousands of Linux servers are capable of running ASP .NET, which Microsoft uses extensively... Er, no. Akamai also has Windows servers, which Microsoft uses.
Yeah, there's so many neat gadgets for music out these days. I mostly play guitar live, so I don't really have a use for the Receptor either, but it could be useful to some. On another random note, check this out: the Continuum is the most bizarre keyboardish device I've ever seen. Check out the Jordan Rudess demo there, it's really sweet what this thing does. Too bad they're so damn expensive ($5000!) or I'd get one.
Howabout the Receptor? I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I'm assuming you might have heard the name since you're into pro audio/recording. If not, it's a stand alone rackmount VST host. It's basically a normal computer, just very specialized. It's a large unit, 2U rackmount, but still very wonderful for live gigs. Since it isn't overly bloated, it can get 1 millisecond latency without a problem even for some of the very large VST collections. Hook it up to an LCD and keyboard/mouse for programming, get it set up, then control it from your keyboard. :)
Analog audio generally produces distortion, and tube amps also produce noticeable distortion. If you want to accurately reproduce the sound that was recorded you're going to want a transistor amplifier, and a digital source. Using vinyl and a tube amp will make the sound warmer, but the sound will no be what the artists intended you to hear. That warm sound that you get from a tube amp is just that, small amounts of distortion. I personally wouldn't ever want to use a tube amp to listen to anything - the sound simply isn't right.
For recording, on the other hand, tubes are absolutely amazing. I use several tube amps when recording, mostly for guitar and bass distortion, but also occasionally for keys and vocals to warm up the sound. There are some cases when transistor amps are nice for guitar - when you want a really biting harsh sound. As for vocals and keyboard, when you record straight in to a digital device without a tube preamp the resulting sound is very dry and dull.
When it comes to listening to what I've recorded, reproducing exactly what I recorded in an flat form is what I want to be able to do, and that isn't possible with a tube amp.
I'm just reinforcing your point, it's possible to get two milliseconds in software, but anything below that is pushing it. Some of the really high end systems (Echo Layla for example) can get less than one millisecond latency using ASIO or WDM, but those are just that - high end cards which run upwards of $600. This of course doesn't even cover the issue of speaker placement and processor time...
Woah, he lives like 5 minutes from my house. I should go pay him a visit... >:D
Nice troll. PHP has nothing to do with spam, if anything it was your blatant stupidity that got you on a spam list.
Someone who actually isn't instantly biased against Microsoft and actually researches things before posting!? You sir are my new friend. :P
The problem lies in the exploits for IE that allow arbitrary code to be run, or ActiveX controls to be installed just by the user clicking Yes. In fact, most of the time the spyware installs are just simple social engineering. Microsoft should have been able to fix this issue ages ago, as you said, and there's no reason for them not to have done it by now. It seems like it's going to be better in IE 7, but I'm not holding my breath.
If there was a hole in Firefox/Win32 that allowed arbitrary code to be run, you'd see spyware getting installed through Firefox within a week or so of the exploit's release. It probably wouldn't affect us geeks who update religiously, since Mozilla fixes the holes faster than people can exploit them. It would however affect people who don't know better and are still using an older version, like my grandma who uses 1.0.4. Off topic, I would have updated that by now but she lives in San Diego and I live in Miami. Hell for all I know she might have updated it herself. :P
I personally am a FreeBSD guy, but I must say I've looked at Gentoo's portage system and it's astoundingly awesome. They took the basic idea and tree behind ports and made it very easy to use and update via emerge. It's worth a look, even if you don't wind up using it. I'm sticking with FreeBSD as I love the way the userland and system sources are set up, but I can't deny that Gentoo has done something amazing. :)
And to the parent, you are a fucking retard.
I believe their demo machine had a GeForce 6800 GT, and that ran it at maximum details at 1280x1024 without much of a problem. I boosted it up to 1600x1200 just to see how it ran at that, and it wasn't too bad.
I don't think a lot has changed engine wise since then, and if anything it'll be faster than when I saw it.
Also, I believe Todd boosted the speed of decisions Radiant AI makes for the demo video. When I saw Radiant in action the NPCs didn't jump around from one activity to the next that fast.
I'd post a link to the video so other people can see it, but it's 120 megs and I don't want to waste all of my bandwidth. If anyone DOES want to see it, shoot me an e-mail at "me at thalagyrt dot com", and I'll send you a link to it. There's also an active torrent going around if you want to search for that.
Yes I have as a matter of fact, and I've lived on a 200 foor yacht for upwards of a week in Greece, not to mention easily the 10 100-120 footers I've been on for vacations. I realize it's a moving target, however in a harbor the amount of motion is fairly small. Ever been on a boat?
Actually if you read the article or even looked the Death Ray up, Archimedes supposedly used his death ray from land to target ships anchored within bow and arrow distance.