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User: vega80

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  1. Re:Why? on Supermarket Bans Jedi Knight · · Score: 1

    Hmm.. if I ever plan to rob a bank, I'll have to remember to wear a hoodie, cap, sunglasses, and carry a firearm.

  2. Bottom line on Game Designers Earn More In UK Than In US · · Score: 1

    What I get from this is UK game companies reward good designers more than American game companies do.. and American companies reward good programmers more than UK ones. The net result should be UK games should have better gameplay, and US games should have better graphics.

  3. Re:Hah. on Intelligent Design Ruled "Not Science" · · Score: 1

    Explain how evolution is bad science. ID is the type of science that says, "how is it that the earth floats in space? There must be eight giant elephants that hold it up." That's not science. Science says, "is earth being held up by the stars? Let me test that. Nope. Is earth floating in some liquid? Let me test that. Nope. Is it due to the Sun's gravity? Quite possibly, as all the evidence points to that." Evolution is based on the observation of facts, coming up with a hypothesis to explain those facts, going back and looking at the inconsistencies and rigorously testing those facts, and altering the hypothesis as needed. I ask you, can there be more than one "creator?" There is nothing in ID that says there can't be several creators.

  4. Re:Come on... on FBI Target Puts His Life Online · · Score: 1

    The vast majority of fighters in Iraq are Iraqi - Iraqis who took up arms to fight Americans. There were no Iraqi insurgents before we invaded. Foreign terrorists represent a small minority. Also, Iraq hasn't prevented attacks on other members of the coalition, including Spain and Britain. If the terrorists intend to strike, they do so at the most unsuspecting time and place. You can argue that by getting coalition members in, we made them targets instead of the us, but that's a morbid line of thinking, isn't it? Clearly, the longer we stay in Iraq, the more terrorists we create.

  5. Re:Come on... on FBI Target Puts His Life Online · · Score: 1

    So if I understand you, you believe that we originally went into Iraq to deny WMDs to terrorists. When we discovered there were no WMDs, we switched strategies to "fighting them there." Paul Wolfowitz wrote a letter to Clinton on behalf of the PNAC in 1998 to encourage him to invade Iraq. Signatories to the PNAC include Cheney, Scooter Libby, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz. In 98, Wolfowitz had testified in Congress about how upsetting it was to see Saddam put down the uprising to overthrow him in 91. Days after 9-11, administration officials started talking about the possibility of invading Iraq, as Woodward's book has pointed out. Bush has said several times, "knowing what I know today, I would've still invaded Iraq." So, knowing that there was no connection to 9-11 and knowing there were no WMDs, Bush, in his own words, has said he would've still invaded Iraq. The evidence is completely overwhelming - 9-11 and WMDs were an excuses to invade Iraq. Sorry, you're wrong.

  6. Re:Offshoring is a new fact of life... on IBM to Lay Off Half of Global Services Division · · Score: 1

    The reason why Lou Dobbs doesn't get traction is because he's an idiot. He doesn't understand basic economic concepts like comparative advantage. Outsourcing done right helps the US economy as well - our unemployment rate is 4.5%, which is still historically quite low. This isn't a question of outsourcing - this is question of incompetent management. Look at GM in the 80s as an example - whether outsourcing exists or not, workers will get laid off anyway.

  7. Re:Hate crime. on Student Arrested for Making Videogame Map of School · · Score: 1

    I don't see how this has anything to do with the aclu.. if anything, won't the aclu protect the student's right to design whatever he wants?

  8. Re:Ah, schadenfraude on Japanese Stores Lowering PS3 Prices · · Score: 1

    No, you misunderstood. Schadenfraude means "taking joy at someone else's suffering." The poster is saying the poster is taking joy in the fact that Sony is suffering because Sony was so arrogant. Sony is getting their comeuppance, not customers.

  9. Re:blackballed? on Call of Duty - The Annotated Contract · · Score: 1

    This doesn't seem legally enforceable to me. Putting a clause in the contract saying "you can't reveal the contents of this contract" is a way of saying "by agreeing to work with us, you promise not to sue us," since it seems inevitable that a lawsuit would have to reveal the contents of the signed contract. Unless somehow the contract is considered a trade secret - but suing someone for revealing a signed contract seems a bit ridiculous.

  10. Re:Who did this? on The Unfriendly Side of German Game Development · · Score: 5, Funny

    When they came for the videogame developers, I did not speak out. Then they came for the violent videogames, I did not speak out. Then they came for the videogames with sex, I did not speak out. Now I have nothing to play but Nintendo videogames. Apologies to Martin Niemöller.

  11. Re:an open letter to the people of china on China Clamps Down on Online Gaming · · Score: 1

    China is still an authoritarian regime. People who have stood up for human rights in China (and there are many) have been thrown in jail, or worse. It's easy for you to try to prod the Chinese into action, since you don't have the fear of the secret police whisking you away in the middle of the night here. I'm sure citizens in China are hopeful for the day when they can be free citizens, and that day may eventually come, but if you care about civil liberties, I think you should address your letter to the Chinese government.

  12. Re:DS + Wii vs. PSP + PS3 on Game Consoles Sell Over 3.2 Million Units in November · · Score: 1

    But we pretty much know what the WiiCube can do. Look at the best looking GC games - that's the benchmark. You're not going to see graphics much better on the Wii than the best looking GC games. As many have already said, the Wii has basically the same hardware as the GC, whereas the PS3 and 360 are a generational leap in power.

  13. Re:Ouch on Sony, Analysts React To PS3 Launch · · Score: 1

    It's important to note that it's not 30 games per system for every PS3 system Sony will ever sell - the calculus is for the current production cost, for systems sold now. It's possible for next year, it'll be 20 games, and then 10 games the year after. When the PS3 reaches the peak of its sales, probably sometime in its 4th or 5th year, it'll be much lower.

  14. Re:Well maybe it is. on Game Industry Folks Siding With the Wii · · Score: 1

    First, the PS3 can handle more content - and not just more content, but more complicated content. It can render more polys, show more characters at the same time, have more animations, show more background objects, etc. To take advantage of this, you need a much larger art team. To program for it, you'll need a larger programming team. Think of the difference between a Formula 1 car and a go kart. You'll not only need a better driver, but also a much larger support staff. Create more realistic characters and making a character animate realistically at much higher poly counts is more difficult, and requires a larger staff. Pixar animation is harder and more time-consuming than what you can do on the PS3, and the content on the PS3 is harder and more time-consuming to make than on the PS2. The second part is, why would a developer go through the trouble to do this? Because people who buy the PS3 will generally expect much better graphics than what's on the Wii/Gamecube. Also, developers who develop for the PS3 will naturally want to push the PS3 - if I have this cool piece of hardware, the artists will ask, "can I make a 5k poly character" instead of a 500 poly character, and programmers will naturally salivate at the possibilities of using programming techniques that weren't possible on previous generation consoles, and this takes a larger staff, because there will be more work involved (at least initially).

  15. Re:Doesn't China just pirate stuff? on Fighting For the Chinese Gaming Market · · Score: 1

    FWIW, I read about a blog where an associate professor in Beijing was complaining that he could barely survive on 4954 RMB (~$600) / month..

  16. Re:I heard a rumor... from the space aliens on Japan To Get Wii With DVD Player · · Score: 1
    Unlikely, Nintendo actually makes a profit on their consoles.

    You're assuming Nintendo can't make a profit at $199 for a Wii. For all we know, it costs Nintendo $100 to build a Wii.

  17. Re:Crappy games aren't as good as good TV on Sopranos' Creator Doubtful of Game Meaning · · Score: 1
    In other words, "the medium is the message."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan

  18. Re:50 Cent: Bulletproof on Game Reviews Don't Matter, Study Finds · · Score: 1

    I know that's true for me.. I don't usually look at reviews by themselves, but if a friend/co-worker says a game is really fun, I'll look at the reviews and then decide whether or not to buy it. If a game on a demo disc is fun, or if I play a game at a friend's house/E3/kiosk (Guitar Hero at Best Buy's) and it's fun, I'll usually buy it to.

  19. Evens out on The Light Bulb That Can Change the World · · Score: 1

    Except everyone now has big-screen plasmas and LCDs that use 250 watts, negating any savings from CFLs.

  20. Re:Think of the children! on Illinois to Pay for Unconstitutional Gaming Law · · Score: 1

    Well, we're totally off topic here, but that would be true if the parents were married, because there is a legal union. If the man wasn't married to the woman, common sense says he shouldn't have any say in the abortion. What if a woman had an affair, and she became pregnant, and then the woman and her husband wanted the abortion, but the 'other' man wanted the baby? PS, WRT the Illinois judgement, good to see our courts working correctly.

  21. Re:Nintendo? on Blizzard's 'Secret Sauce' · · Score: 1

    Of course, 1/3 of Sony's profits come from their videogame division. The PS2 era was enormously profitable for Sony. It's Sony's electronics and movie division that's always dragging them down..

  22. Convergence.. on EA Discusses Spielberg Game Collaboration · · Score: 1

    In the mid 90's, there was talk of the "convergence" of Hollywood and the videogame industry. Spielberg got all excited, and with his cronies K & G, they started Dreamworks Interactive. They realized that videogames was really hard to do, and videogame players were more fickle than movie customers. So they sold off Dreamworks Interactive to EA, which became EALA. And now, Spielberg has the videogame itch again.. stick to movies, Steve, and leave videogame development to the pros.

  23. Re:Just managment babble on Game Developers Sound Off On 'Quality Of Life' · · Score: 1

    I have passion for life too. I love my family. I love Formula 1. I love golf. I love fine gourmet food. And I also love my job. Maybe passion is a bit strong a word, but if you look at work as purely as a means to and end, then you come from a different universe than me. I'm not advocating working 60 hours a week without fair compensation, and fortunely, my company only does that a few weeks out of the year, but I see nothing wrong with being excited about the work you do. I'd rather be doing 8 hours of cool AI code than 8 hours of php scripts.

  24. Re:Just managment babble on Game Developers Sound Off On 'Quality Of Life' · · Score: 1

    Work can be fun if it's 40 - 50 hours a week. Programming that AI guy to hide behind a crate, and pop out a few shots at you, and seeing it work, is immensely satisfying. Getting a cool shadow effect to work is immensely satisfying. These are the things we work on. And when it's all done, seeing your product on the store shelf is immensely satisfying. Of course crunches are hell, but to say "work is not fun," or it's just to pay the bills, just means you lack the passion to work in the games industry, and you have no understanding of the drive and passion of the talent that does work there.

  25. Re:Good article in BusinessWeek on The Future of IT in America? · · Score: 1

    Exactly. Lou Dobbs and the xenophobic crowd has gotten it exactly wrong. The danger isn't low wages.. the danger is, 1) we're not producing enough programmers, and 2) we're gonna get outsmarted by the Eastern Europeans and Chinese. India isn't even in the top 10.