As far as young, slender women packing heavy weapons and needing steriods to use them, I have a counterexample (although I admit that it's a rare one.). One of the other blacksmiths at the forge where I volunteered (the senior apprentice) was a very slender 16 year old that had more strength in her upper body than a lot of fully grown men that I've known. She was just really wirey. Appearances can, at times, be really deceiving.
I'm not saying it's impossible, just improbable. I was a blacksmith when I was a teen myself - man, folding sword metal takes forever... and was also wiry.
However, in general, game physics rules are bent way too often so that young 15 yo girls who weigh 100 pounds at most are running around with giant 25 pound swords, using them as if they were light as butter.
a. a WHAAAANGG with a Big vibration and a red flash on the screen (e.g. don't do that); or
b. a CRANNNNG with a short sharp vibration and a picture of part of my sword flying off or bent because I broke it.
In either case, my hands would continue the motion, but the auditory, motion, and visual feedback would tell me I was out another sword, cause my character was not that smart.
Nothing prevents you from jumping off cliffs either - it's stupid, but a good simulation has methods of dealing with that.
it's more likely that early feedback on... oh... places like slashdot and so on, will lead Nintendo and developers to thinking about such things earlier rather than later.
So, it's not a bad thing to express a desire for realistic sword fighting. If Nintendo isn't reading this, then I'll be sorely disappointed (especially since I'm a shareholder in them right now). Might even send some emails to the board... or call in via the Net during the Annual Meeting. Us brash Americans do things like that.
in that new features, like oh I don't know, the Wii's fun motion-sensing controller and wand really change the nature of gaming and make it more fun.
But, hey, it's never great when you're trying to push consoles that don't make a profit, or push ever more FPS and Sports games the vast majority of casual and women/girl gamers don't give a flying h00t about, or just rake in the cash from yet another port of a multi-platform game.
Noone likes losing. But if it never happened, we'd all be playing Tetris and Pong.
.
Hey, anyone else still remember the version of Tetris in Monty Python's game where they go "I'm not dead yet!" - that was sweet!
Just picked up an original xbox and gamecube to supplement my ps2 this year.
Well, I kind of agree with you there. I got a GameCube (my son was at the age when that was the best choice for the games), then picked up an xBox just because he went on and on about how Fable and other games would be so cool... and it turned out the only real game he (or I) cared about on that that wasn't multi-platform, was in fact Fable (and the expansion for it). What a waste.
So we just bought a PS2. Real cheap. Really really cheap. And now he's got lots of very cheap games and free ones from friends too.
We'll get a Wii early though - the games offered look really fun, but I can't see wasting money on a PS3, and the games on the xBox360 bore the pants off me.
a. rumble feature on contact with non-gelatinous beastie or human, to simulate vibration effects when you hit something that has resistance;
b. noise feature on contact with object, to use auditory feedback such as:.1. Clang (hitting armoured individual or stone/metal surface).2. Chunk (hitting wood or something like that).3. Grrk (hitting flesh or thickish material).4. Slice (highly strong weapon hitting something it is good at cutting)
and then modulate the sound based upon spin, kinetics versus potential energy, angle of attack, etc.
It would be up to the sword-user (the character), to realize the depicted on-screen reaction is what his Wiimote should be doing - obviously they can't stop your Wiimote from moving, but they could translate continued force as if it was pushing.
You could even emulate sticking by a red flash icon over the weapon onscreen, a SqueeSqueeSquee or ErrkErrkErrk sound as the weapon stuck in, and have the rumble vibrate on and off whenever you "tried" to move it.
It's a software problem, not a device problem - the devices are all there - sound output in the Wiimote, rumble in the Wiimote, sound output on screen, visual feedback on screen.
Haptic feedback is going to be the next big thing in interfaces. Do a quick google and you will find most big universities have some kind of research in it, however I don't think it will filter its way down to consumer good for some time to come.
Geesh, you actually expect me to go to campus to find out? I've been avoiding trips to campus all summer long, until the seminars start up again...
But I have noticed we have a lot of spinoff companies from the UW here, so maybe one of them will open up in Fremont and I can swing by on my morning or evening walks to or from work... I just wanted a useful Wii controller that actually simulates sword swinging realistically. Not asking for bloody raindrops with correct spatter effects during a stormy day with varying cloud cover and lighting conditions...
From my experience as a fencer (I have fenced sabre for four years, and I just began fencing épée), just holding a blade in the en garde position can tire my arm. If I have not fenced for a while, my arms is sometimes tired after a mere 25-minute lesson.
That matches my experience as well. Even a short sword, unless used for short jabs, is a pretty heavy weapon for your average person not used to heavy labor.
I laugh at the young slender women carrying weapons that weigh 15-20 pounds - yeah, right... not going to happen. Not without massive steroids.
They originally wanted all swinging to be done through the Wiimote, but then found that it tires you too quickly, so they just constrained it to "special" sorts of attacks, or something like that.
Well, real swords do that. They're heavy. Your wrist and your arm and your shoulder get tired.
Personally, I rather look forward to more realistic swordplay. I've had it with teeny young girls swinging giant two-handed swords in glowing arcs as they attack, or throwing halberds (those things are heavy) as if they were toothpicks.
I would hope you can choose to have "realistic effects" if you want, quite frankly. Sure, turn them off if you can't handle it, but leave them for the purists like me who just don't want all the scars you get from that kind of thing.
1. It could be open to tons of abuse, and mainly people just flailing the wiimote about, scoring hits as they swing randomly.
2. So, why don't people do that in real sword fights?
Actually, if you go berserker, and a woman I know used to do that, it's kind of like that, you get so pumped up and out of connection, that you start attacking even the wrong people.
What works with it is, literally, surprise. People don't know what to do with it, they tend to falter in defense, they don't think because they're stunned (and bleeding, which if you're not berserk, can really bother you), and as a result they frequently try to run away, which creates even more confusion and usually leads to them being attacked from the side or behind.
So, if you can do that, and it takes a heck of a lot of energy, go for it. But you have to keep it up.
I was watching Hellboy with my girlfriend, and we had both been talking about how some movies couldn't be made before CGI.
But during the movie, Hellboy grabs a stone sword from a statue and starts cutting through the CGI tentacle god. I noticed - because I've used cutlasses, epees, and other swords - that he literally cut through it as if it weren't there (which it wasn't, he swung the sword before the CGI monster was added).
My technical question is: exactly how are they going to deal with sword resistance - when I chop through a tentacle, or for example let's just use a chicken here, or an octopus, there is resistance which:
a. slows my sword, even when I'm in a very fast spin attack; and
b. puts pressure on my wrist, arm, and shoulder due to that.
Now, are we going to have to live in a world of "massless" monsters, and then they'll have to change iron golems into marshmallow golems?
Or will the Wii controller have some feedback loops, like heavy vibration and sounds and the image on the screen slows to represent what really would happen?
So that those 20 million people can track him down and make his life miserable?
Resigning means he keeps his massive stock options and his overly generous retirement benefits and other such excess compensation. The average CTO only survives a maximum of 18 months anyways.
Ok, you use electricity generated by tidal generators (, etc), to run a desalanation plant, in order to get water to grow crops, which are then processed (more tidal power or biodesal I assume) into biofuel. Also take out a large portion of the biofuel which will be used to power the tractors (and etc) used to manage the crops.
However, in the real world, most desalination plants are run from solar energy.
We need to remember that all energy sources have drawbacks. I did a TV show on alternative energies during the 70s and 80s in British Columbia, Canada, and I tried to depict both the pros and cons of each energy source. Fusion, for example, is always 20 years in the future (which it was in the 1950s); hydropower has impacts on land usage, water flow (which can be good), and fish/animals; coal has pollution and is fairly dangerous to extract; solar has point pollution at the manufacturing site for solar cells (part of the doping process) - or space impacts for solar water heaters (passive solar is usually great); insulation/conservation means the grid has less flexibility (but is usually cheapest) and minor pollutants; biomass requires water and land and fertilizer (pollution).
Biofuels are part of a wide range of alternative energies and work best in areas with abundant water and reasonable solar radiation and excess arable land, but are best if made as part of crop rotation strategies and recycling of crop waste.
The only country with sufficient fresh water supply not to be concerned by 2050, sadly, is Canada.
I was reading my print edition of the Wall Street Journal, in the personal tech section, and they basically said that not only isn't it time - in terms of cost - but it's not time in terms of performance.
They did real world tests with the same brands using their 802.11g and 802.11n versions, and found little or no difference.
I think I'll wait until I see a demonstrated reason for upgrading from 802.11b/g, quite frankly.
Slashdot Mirror
But then again, where's the recoil in firing a Glock in CS?
Good point. For that matter, why don't the hot shell casings ever hit you in the cheek when you stand next to someone firing a 9mm SMG?
But I'm hoping for better sword physics, not worse, with the Wii.
As far as young, slender women packing heavy weapons and needing steriods to use them, I have a counterexample (although I admit that it's a rare one.). One of the other blacksmiths at the forge where I volunteered (the senior apprentice) was a very slender 16 year old that had more strength in her upper body than a lot of fully grown men that I've known. She was just really wirey. Appearances can, at times, be really deceiving.
... and was also wiry.
I'm not saying it's impossible, just improbable. I was a blacksmith when I was a teen myself - man, folding sword metal takes forever
However, in general, game physics rules are bent way too often so that young 15 yo girls who weigh 100 pounds at most are running around with giant 25 pound swords, using them as if they were light as butter.
I have. But, as I said, you get scars and it's not fun being black and blue from a non-sharp sword or even rattan, IMHO.
Much more fun to get some nice swordplay online with a networked Wii on a rainy day, and whack each other that way.
Fencing would be fun too. Did that too.
And what of the poor guys who are based in Antartica? Why can't they use this?
Well, I would expect either:
a. a WHAAAANGG with a Big vibration and a red flash on the screen (e.g. don't do that); or
b. a CRANNNNG with a short sharp vibration and a picture of part of my sword flying off or bent because I broke it.
In either case, my hands would continue the motion, but the auditory, motion, and visual feedback would tell me I was out another sword, cause my character was not that smart.
Nothing prevents you from jumping off cliffs either - it's stupid, but a good simulation has methods of dealing with that.
Well, the original post said Lynwood. Here we have a Lynnwood, WA. Place of big hair and drinking.
it's more likely that early feedback on ... oh ... places like slashdot and so on, will lead Nintendo and developers to thinking about such things earlier rather than later.
... or call in via the Net during the Annual Meeting. Us brash Americans do things like that.
So, it's not a bad thing to express a desire for realistic sword fighting. If Nintendo isn't reading this, then I'll be sorely disappointed (especially since I'm a shareholder in them right now). Might even send some emails to the board
More accurately, sword fighting purists who are looking forward to realistic video games.
when there is competition, there are some winners and some losers.
I think you meant to say:
"When there is competition, there are some winners and some whiners."
in that new features, like oh I don't know, the Wii's fun motion-sensing controller and wand really change the nature of gaming and make it more fun.
But, hey, it's never great when you're trying to push consoles that don't make a profit, or push ever more FPS and Sports games the vast majority of casual and women/girl gamers don't give a flying h00t about, or just rake in the cash from yet another port of a multi-platform game.
Noone likes losing. But if it never happened, we'd all be playing Tetris and Pong.
.
Hey, anyone else still remember the version of Tetris in Monty Python's game where they go "I'm not dead yet!" - that was sweet!
Hmm, maybe it is a fake.
Just picked up an original xbox and gamecube to supplement my ps2 this year.
... and it turned out the only real game he (or I) cared about on that that wasn't multi-platform, was in fact Fable (and the expansion for it). What a waste.
Well, I kind of agree with you there. I got a GameCube (my son was at the age when that was the best choice for the games), then picked up an xBox just because he went on and on about how Fable and other games would be so cool
So we just bought a PS2. Real cheap. Really really cheap. And now he's got lots of very cheap games and free ones from friends too.
We'll get a Wii early though - the games offered look really fun, but I can't see wasting money on a PS3, and the games on the xBox360 bore the pants off me.
Ah, but couldn't they make sure the game sends:
.1. Clang (hitting armoured individual or stone/metal surface) .2. Chunk (hitting wood or something like that) .3. Grrk (hitting flesh or thickish material) .4. Slice (highly strong weapon hitting something it is good at cutting)
a. rumble feature on contact with non-gelatinous beastie or human, to simulate vibration effects when you hit something that has resistance;
b. noise feature on contact with object, to use auditory feedback such as:
and then modulate the sound based upon spin, kinetics versus potential energy, angle of attack, etc.
It would be up to the sword-user (the character), to realize the depicted on-screen reaction is what his Wiimote should be doing - obviously they can't stop your Wiimote from moving, but they could translate continued force as if it was pushing.
You could even emulate sticking by a red flash icon over the weapon onscreen, a SqueeSqueeSquee or ErrkErrkErrk sound as the weapon stuck in, and have the rumble vibrate on and off whenever you "tried" to move it.
It's a software problem, not a device problem - the devices are all there - sound output in the Wiimote, rumble in the Wiimote, sound output on screen, visual feedback on screen.
Haptic feedback is going to be the next big thing in interfaces. Do a quick google and you will find most big universities have some kind of research in it, however I don't think it will filter its way down to consumer good for some time to come.
...
.. I just wanted a useful Wii controller that actually simulates sword swinging realistically. Not asking for bloody raindrops with correct spatter effects during a stormy day with varying cloud cover and lighting conditions ...
Geesh, you actually expect me to go to campus to find out? I've been avoiding trips to campus all summer long, until the seminars start up again
But I have noticed we have a lot of spinoff companies from the UW here, so maybe one of them will open up in Fremont and I can swing by on my morning or evening walks to or from work.
15-20 pounds. Weight. per weapon.
No, she was kind of short and stocky, actually. Probably why she did so well.
so do you think that will be a Wii upgrade, and how much would it cost?
From my experience as a fencer (I have fenced sabre for four years, and I just began fencing épée), just holding a blade in the en garde position can tire my arm. If I have not fenced for a while, my arms is sometimes tired after a mere 25-minute lesson.
... not going to happen. Not without massive steroids.
That matches my experience as well. Even a short sword, unless used for short jabs, is a pretty heavy weapon for your average person not used to heavy labor.
I laugh at the young slender women carrying weapons that weigh 15-20 pounds - yeah, right
They originally wanted all swinging to be done through the Wiimote, but then found that it tires you too quickly, so they just constrained it to "special" sorts of attacks, or something like that.
Well, real swords do that. They're heavy. Your wrist and your arm and your shoulder get tired.
Personally, I rather look forward to more realistic swordplay. I've had it with teeny young girls swinging giant two-handed swords in glowing arcs as they attack, or throwing halberds (those things are heavy) as if they were toothpicks.
I would hope you can choose to have "realistic effects" if you want, quite frankly. Sure, turn them off if you can't handle it, but leave them for the purists like me who just don't want all the scars you get from that kind of thing.
1. It could be open to tons of abuse, and mainly people just flailing the wiimote about, scoring hits as they swing randomly.
2. So, why don't people do that in real sword fights?
Actually, if you go berserker, and a woman I know used to do that, it's kind of like that, you get so pumped up and out of connection, that you start attacking even the wrong people.
What works with it is, literally, surprise. People don't know what to do with it, they tend to falter in defense, they don't think because they're stunned (and bleeding, which if you're not berserk, can really bother you), and as a result they frequently try to run away, which creates even more confusion and usually leads to them being attacked from the side or behind.
So, if you can do that, and it takes a heck of a lot of energy, go for it. But you have to keep it up.
I was watching Hellboy with my girlfriend, and we had both been talking about how some movies couldn't be made before CGI.
But during the movie, Hellboy grabs a stone sword from a statue and starts cutting through the CGI tentacle god. I noticed - because I've used cutlasses, epees, and other swords - that he literally cut through it as if it weren't there (which it wasn't, he swung the sword before the CGI monster was added).
My technical question is: exactly how are they going to deal with sword resistance - when I chop through a tentacle, or for example let's just use a chicken here, or an octopus, there is resistance which:
a. slows my sword, even when I'm in a very fast spin attack; and
b. puts pressure on my wrist, arm, and shoulder due to that.
Now, are we going to have to live in a world of "massless" monsters, and then they'll have to change iron golems into marshmallow golems?
Or will the Wii controller have some feedback loops, like heavy vibration and sounds and the image on the screen slows to represent what really would happen?
Just wondering.
So that those 20 million people can track him down and make his life miserable?
Resigning means he keeps his massive stock options and his overly generous retirement benefits and other such excess compensation. The average CTO only survives a maximum of 18 months anyways.
Ok, you use electricity generated by tidal generators (, etc), to run a desalanation plant, in order to get water to grow crops, which are then processed (more tidal power or biodesal I assume) into biofuel. Also take out a large portion of the biofuel which will be used to power the tractors (and etc) used to manage the crops.
However, in the real world, most desalination plants are run from solar energy.
We need to remember that all energy sources have drawbacks. I did a TV show on alternative energies during the 70s and 80s in British Columbia, Canada, and I tried to depict both the pros and cons of each energy source. Fusion, for example, is always 20 years in the future (which it was in the 1950s); hydropower has impacts on land usage, water flow (which can be good), and fish/animals; coal has pollution and is fairly dangerous to extract; solar has point pollution at the manufacturing site for solar cells (part of the doping process) - or space impacts for solar water heaters (passive solar is usually great); insulation/conservation means the grid has less flexibility (but is usually cheapest) and minor pollutants; biomass requires water and land and fertilizer (pollution).
Biofuels are part of a wide range of alternative energies and work best in areas with abundant water and reasonable solar radiation and excess arable land, but are best if made as part of crop rotation strategies and recycling of crop waste.
The only country with sufficient fresh water supply not to be concerned by 2050, sadly, is Canada.
I was reading my print edition of the Wall Street Journal, in the personal tech section, and they basically said that not only isn't it time - in terms of cost - but it's not time in terms of performance.
They did real world tests with the same brands using their 802.11g and 802.11n versions, and found little or no difference.
I think I'll wait until I see a demonstrated reason for upgrading from 802.11b/g, quite frankly.
I just remove the overhot battery, unplug the power cords, let it cool down, and restart it again.
...
But I do sometimes force it to exit to a menu state in certain programs, so that it will flush the video and data cache and write the threads out.
Am looking forwards to when Windows Vista is so common I'll be forced to upgrade my WinXP laptop to Linux, quite frankly.
I'd rather issue a kill command any day.
Besides, if I smack my laptop, the vibrations make me feel all funny
sigh. What kind of hand grenades? Your statement is like saying "the force of a bullet" -- well, is that a .22 or a 50 cal?
... or was that 5.56 mm ... nah, let's go for 9 mm
7.62 mm