World of Warcraft may not have photorealistic graphics, but still so much time has been spent on graphical aspects of the interface, that there's really not that much there. That's why I quit playing after a relatively short time. The presentation may be quite varied, but as far as interaction there's just very bloody little to do. This shows very badly in the combat engine, and in the professions.
In the combat engine, one basically just stares at the screen waiting for timers to go off, and then one presses the corresponding number key. Sorry, but that's fucking boring. After about eight weeks of playing and trying my best to like the game, joining a guild, etc, I just quit. It wasn't fun. The professions too, suck. You click on an item in your iventory, or in the game world, and wait while a fucking timer goes off, most of the you then get a success message, sometimes you get a fail. It's just dull, there's more interaction in most text based MUDs than there is in WoW.
In my opinion 3D has never delivered on its promise of bringing more engrossing gameplay, only in rare instances has this been the case. Mario 64 brought us better gameplay, Ocarina of Time did as well, but WoW definately is worse as an RPG than, say, Baldur's Gate, or Ultima 7, or Ultima Underworld, and I think I know exactly why. The art for 3D games is so incredibly much more labor intensive that graphics creation is where all the money and time budget goes, while in "ye olden days" companies actually had TIME to devote to other aspects. The old Ultima games are particulary good examples, their worlds are rich, organic and complex, filled with interaction. WoW and it's ilk come off as wooden and immalleable. World of Warcraft literally plays like graphical version of Zork without the witty writing:
Ouch, the industry lost out there didn't it? Just imagine the benefits of a forced migration from MS-DOS to OS/2! Real Multitasking! Memory Protection, X-windows support! And at the same time as the rest of the industry! WOW!
I view the answer as more like: Fuck it. I'll just use P2P, and when I get the opportunity to go see a band I like in concert, I'll go see them and pay them directly, but otherwise it's not worth the trouble, unless I can buy CDs directly from them. The alternative being to help support a massive cartel that helps pervert governments and legal systems across the world, so I just won't.
Although originally an Amiga game, the SNES release of Canon Fodder worked really well, and was bloody good fun. Of course, it did have the option of a mouse for input, which didn't hurt at all. SNES mouse, wooo!
You can talk about how the gamecube was a "failure", but that doesn't change that it was really successful, much more so than the X-box, if ones goal is TO MAKE MONEY.
Did Gore REALLY suck more than Bush? How about Kerry? Be honest now, if you are you have to admit the the wildest accusations of how bad either would have been are nothing compared to the things which the Democratic Party A. Predicted Bush would do, and B. Bush has subsequently done.
What was so bad about Gore? He claimed to have taken the initiative on Creating the internet as it exists today? WHICH IS TRUE, he sponsored the bill that opened up Arpanet as the public internet. What a Bastard, actually claiming credit for his accomplishments.
What was so bad about Kerry? OOOH he's actually a Vietnam veteran, who ACTUALLY SAW COMBAT. Awarded 3 purple hearts and a silver star, oh but the republicans questioned one of those purple hearts so he's soft on terrorism and anti-american. Note that Gore WAS ALSO in Vietnam, as a noncombatant journalist, but that's a million lightyears closer than "George son of the governor and AWOL from the national guard Bush.
Yes, there are outbound video encode/decode accelerators, but DSP's built-in would be much more generally useful, kind of like an Altivec 2, It could provide more general math acceleration for all the Pro apps. Rather like what they're using GPU's for with CoreImage/Video, but cheaper, and easier to implement, because you don't have to deal with the baggage of extracting the data back off a video card, which isn't designed for it.
Embedded Chips, (and flash memory, which Intel also makes) are why I think reasons 1, and 3 are the most important.
Apple won't because that was probably a condition in the contract for them to receive the insane discounts. It's not that they couldn't, although it would be more expenive, it's that they are probably contractually oliged not to.
Note that this is all speculation and guesswork on my part. And I still would love to see a dual POWER5 based Powermac.
The thing that really hurts me is that they didn't buy themselves any speed doing this. People keep complaining that the powerbook G4's can't edit HD, but the Pentium-M's won't be able to either. The correct solution to that problem, if they wanted to solve it was to incorporate one or two 1GHz fixed point DSPs, and provided an open API to access them for math acceleration. They could have sold cards for the desktops to be Final Cut PRO, and Logic PRO accerlerators using the same API. This solution would have been dead simple, a company Apple's size could have sold such cards profitably for just $100-$200, the chips are bloody cheap, and they also would have made incredible physics accelerators for games.
As an aside why doesn't some company make a system similar to what I've just described? Say, a dual processor G3 system with Fixed Point DSPs for math acceleration. It would be a true successor to the Amiga, and would actually offer similar amazing capabilities (real time HD encoding to MPEG-2/4 anyone?) at a low price, with very low power dissipation.
Sigh, The equilibrium concentration of Hydronium ions in water is on the order of 10^-7 molar. The total ion concentration of pure water is therefore twice that. That ain't very bloody much. You need ion concentrations of at least 10^-3 molar before water starts to become noticibly conduction.
As other posters have noted, this isn't what deionized water is in the first place, (if it was the lifetime for "deionized" water would be on the order of microseconds, as the water equilibrium is FAST(!) I've spoken with P-Chemists and discovered that even simulating small quantities of pure water accurately is a very hard problem computationally.) deionized water has had all the salt removed, and usually most of everything else, but the defining part is the salt removal.
I understand the argument there, but I'm inclined to think that the game consoles stealing IBM's attention is a bit of a red herring. I think the real reasons are:
1. Marketing (Most people won't look any further than a CPU's clockspeed to evaluate it's "performance," even though this is often a weak indicator at best)
2. Steve's ego, and his anger at IBM for failing to deliver as promised. (Even though EVERYONE had a disasterous time with the 90nm transition. Nobody was really prepared to deal with the immense increase in heat dissipation, and if you'll remember, even Intel stalled during this period)
3. I think it's very like Intel made Apple "an offer they couldn't refuse," (especially keeping in mind point 2) The PC platform is stagnating really badly, and there aren't any Apps really driving the sale of higher performance desktops, Intel NEEDED Apple, as they are the only ones pushing in this direction. I think Apple probably got some OBSCENE discounts for agreeing to become an Intel shop.
Eh? Firstly, the new G5's available from IBM are much lower in power consumption. A G5 powerbook could have happened very easily after June '05, and Secondly that Pentium M you are touting has more in common with that Pentium II you just trashed than any other processor design. Intel has gone back to their old Pentium Pro Architecture. Meanwhile, in POWER land, POWER5 and POWER5+ based POWERPC processors could have succeeded the G5, (A POWER4 based design).
All of the current top3 Supercomputers in the world are POWER5 IBM designs. The intel transition was a mistake IMO. Intel doesn't have any solid plans for the future of x86, they're just going to keep using process advances to cram more PII cores on a chip, until they end up with an x86 based NIAGRA clone
Anybody else notice this on the sidebar?
X-COM was a great game, but why the fuck would you have played it on the PSX instead on a 486 like it was originally intended?
I remember when CGW regularly gave negative reviews, and even reviews that were positive presented objective criticisms. Unfortunately, that's been years now.
This is what's going to cause the console collapse in a couple years, frat-boys aren't gamers at heart, and when the novelty wears off they're going to go right back to cheap beer and cheap sluts. Especially when the $500 consoles and the $70 games start interfering with the pursuit of said beer and sluts.
Hmmm, this months supply of cases of Natty light, or "Random Shooter Sequel 13" for the Xbox?
Right-o, beer it is!
$1500 will get you a 720p front projector, and a screen. You have to supply your own sound system, but that's already true for anybody who actually wants to watch movies in Stereo, or higher. And don't give me crap about how 720p isn't HD. It's a much bigger jump from 480i to 720p than it is from 720p to 1080i or 1080p. (1080p equipment admittedly being very expensive still)
You say you don't care that Microsoft is evil, that makes you part of the problem.
It doesn't matter to you if the companies do business with engage in unethical business practices? If they mistreat their employees? Exploit slave labor? It's all a-ok as long as it helps your bottom line right?
As long as you can put on a pretty face for you customers and tell them everything is fine so you can take their cash, you don't give a flying fuck do you? That's sad.
It's from Shakespeare, which hardly makes it a "saying" It from "the tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark."
The line isn't actually supposed to be ironic either. Queen Gertrude is the speaker, and she makes this comment about a character in a play (within the play) who grieves that now her husband is dead she shall never marry again. Of course, queen Gertrude obviously disagrees, as she has just remarried within a week of her ex-husbands death.
By comparison to the 'states it wouldn't be hard for Europe to be filled with beautiful women!
Besides, any of the countries on the northern side of Europe would tend to be filled with tall blonde lovelies anyway, so if that your thing, it'd probably be paradise!
I've done some research into the device, the current firmware has a bug that causes all the processors to run at max speed even when not in use, this causes the rapid battery drain, it is fixable with a simple update.
Yes, but there's a constitutional provision for alcohol specifically in the amendment that repeals prohibition, which makes it constitutional by definition.
Probably because EMI blew, and is a black spot on the name of the series. The writing wasn't up to par, the 3D engine wasn't as good as handdrawn 2D animation, and the ending was crap.
Speciation is a fascinating and complex process. In general it does occur when populations are separated, although this need not be true. In any good undergraduate University level Zoology course, several mechanisms that can give rise to new species are discussed during unit on Evolution.
As far as plants go, it is worth noting that plant species are generally quite geographically widespread, and despite lacking migratory tendencies, most plant species DO possess means for seed dispersal, chance allows these means to cover large areas. Once a species is widespread, any of a variety of events can occur which leave populations isolated. Fires, Earthquakes, overgrazing, competition, etc. Any of these can result in isolated populations which over time may diverge and loose the ability to interbreed.
In the absence of population isolation, populations can also divide as they radiate to fill different ecological niches. Darwin's Finches are a similar case. Many different kinds of Finch may exist, even on a single island, but each fills a different niche, some eat seeds, others insects, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
In the combat engine, one basically just stares at the screen waiting for timers to go off, and then one presses the corresponding number key. Sorry, but that's fucking boring. After about eight weeks of playing and trying my best to like the game, joining a guild, etc, I just quit. It wasn't fun. The professions too, suck. You click on an item in your iventory, or in the game world, and wait while a fucking timer goes off, most of the you then get a success message, sometimes you get a fail. It's just dull, there's more interaction in most text based MUDs than there is in WoW.
In my opinion 3D has never delivered on its promise of bringing more engrossing gameplay, only in rare instances has this been the case. Mario 64 brought us better gameplay, Ocarina of Time did as well, but WoW definately is worse as an RPG than, say, Baldur's Gate, or Ultima 7, or Ultima Underworld, and I think I know exactly why. The art for 3D games is so incredibly much more labor intensive that graphics creation is where all the money and time budget goes, while in "ye olden days" companies actually had TIME to devote to other aspects. The old Ultima games are particulary good examples, their worlds are rich, organic and complex, filled with interaction. WoW and it's ilk come off as wooden and immalleable. World of Warcraft literally plays like graphical version of Zork without the witty writing:
You are in a green meadow, you see a sword.
>get sword
You take the sword. You see a goblin.
> Hit goblin with sword.
You miss goblin.
goblin hits you for 3 damage.
>Hit goblin with sword
You hit goblin for 3
Your skill in sword is now 2.
goblin dies.
Ouch, the industry lost out there didn't it? Just imagine the benefits of a forced migration from MS-DOS to OS/2! Real Multitasking! Memory Protection, X-windows support! And at the same time as the rest of the industry! WOW!
I view the answer as more like: Fuck it. I'll just use P2P, and when I get the opportunity to go see a band I like in concert, I'll go see them and pay them directly, but otherwise it's not worth the trouble, unless I can buy CDs directly from them. The alternative being to help support a massive cartel that helps pervert governments and legal systems across the world, so I just won't.
Although originally an Amiga game, the SNES release of Canon Fodder worked really well, and was bloody good fun. Of course, it did have the option of a mouse for input, which didn't hurt at all. SNES mouse, wooo!
You can talk about how the gamecube was a "failure", but that doesn't change that it was really successful, much more so than the X-box, if ones goal is TO MAKE MONEY.
What was so bad about Gore? He claimed to have taken the initiative on Creating the internet as it exists today? WHICH IS TRUE, he sponsored the bill that opened up Arpanet as the public internet. What a Bastard, actually claiming credit for his accomplishments.
What was so bad about Kerry? OOOH he's actually a Vietnam veteran, who ACTUALLY SAW COMBAT. Awarded 3 purple hearts and a silver star, oh but the republicans questioned one of those purple hearts so he's soft on terrorism and anti-american. Note that Gore WAS ALSO in Vietnam, as a noncombatant journalist, but that's a million lightyears closer than "George son of the governor and AWOL from the national guard Bush.
Yes, there are outbound video encode/decode accelerators, but DSP's built-in would be much more generally useful, kind of like an Altivec 2, It could provide more general math acceleration for all the Pro apps. Rather like what they're using GPU's for with CoreImage/Video, but cheaper, and easier to implement, because you don't have to deal with the baggage of extracting the data back off a video card, which isn't designed for it.
Apple won't because that was probably a condition in the contract for them to receive the insane discounts. It's not that they couldn't, although it would be more expenive, it's that they are probably contractually oliged not to.
Note that this is all speculation and guesswork on my part. And I still would love to see a dual POWER5 based Powermac.
The thing that really hurts me is that they didn't buy themselves any speed doing this. People keep complaining that the powerbook G4's can't edit HD, but the Pentium-M's won't be able to either. The correct solution to that problem, if they wanted to solve it was to incorporate one or two 1GHz fixed point DSPs, and provided an open API to access them for math acceleration. They could have sold cards for the desktops to be Final Cut PRO, and Logic PRO accerlerators using the same API. This solution would have been dead simple, a company Apple's size could have sold such cards profitably for just $100-$200, the chips are bloody cheap, and they also would have made incredible physics accelerators for games.
As an aside why doesn't some company make a system similar to what I've just described? Say, a dual processor G3 system with Fixed Point DSPs for math acceleration. It would be a true successor to the Amiga, and would actually offer similar amazing capabilities (real time HD encoding to MPEG-2/4 anyone?) at a low price, with very low power dissipation.
As other posters have noted, this isn't what deionized water is in the first place, (if it was the lifetime for "deionized" water would be on the order of microseconds, as the water equilibrium is FAST(!) I've spoken with P-Chemists and discovered that even simulating small quantities of pure water accurately is a very hard problem computationally.) deionized water has had all the salt removed, and usually most of everything else, but the defining part is the salt removal.
1. Marketing (Most people won't look any further than a CPU's clockspeed to evaluate it's "performance," even though this is often a weak indicator at best)
2. Steve's ego, and his anger at IBM for failing to deliver as promised. (Even though EVERYONE had a disasterous time with the 90nm transition. Nobody was really prepared to deal with the immense increase in heat dissipation, and if you'll remember, even Intel stalled during this period)
3. I think it's very like Intel made Apple "an offer they couldn't refuse," (especially keeping in mind point 2) The PC platform is stagnating really badly, and there aren't any Apps really driving the sale of higher performance desktops, Intel NEEDED Apple, as they are the only ones pushing in this direction. I think Apple probably got some OBSCENE discounts for agreeing to become an Intel shop.
All of the current top3 Supercomputers in the world are POWER5 IBM designs. The intel transition was a mistake IMO. Intel doesn't have any solid plans for the future of x86, they're just going to keep using process advances to cram more PII cores on a chip, until they end up with an x86 based NIAGRA clone
He was way off, one point still stands, 800x480 beats the shit out of PSP for web or document viewing.
Anybody else notice this on the sidebar? X-COM was a great game, but why the fuck would you have played it on the PSX instead on a 486 like it was originally intended?
I remember when CGW regularly gave negative reviews, and even reviews that were positive presented objective criticisms. Unfortunately, that's been years now.
This is what's going to cause the console collapse in a couple years, frat-boys aren't gamers at heart, and when the novelty wears off they're going to go right back to cheap beer and cheap sluts. Especially when the $500 consoles and the $70 games start interfering with the pursuit of said beer and sluts. Hmmm, this months supply of cases of Natty light, or "Random Shooter Sequel 13" for the Xbox? Right-o, beer it is!
$1500 will get you a 720p front projector, and a screen. You have to supply your own sound system, but that's already true for anybody who actually wants to watch movies in Stereo, or higher. And don't give me crap about how 720p isn't HD. It's a much bigger jump from 480i to 720p than it is from 720p to 1080i or 1080p. (1080p equipment admittedly being very expensive still)
It doesn't matter to you if the companies do business with engage in unethical business practices? If they mistreat their employees? Exploit slave labor? It's all a-ok as long as it helps your bottom line right?
As long as you can put on a pretty face for you customers and tell them everything is fine so you can take their cash, you don't give a flying fuck do you? That's sad.
The line isn't actually supposed to be ironic either. Queen Gertrude is the speaker, and she makes this comment about a character in a play (within the play) who grieves that now her husband is dead she shall never marry again. Of course, queen Gertrude obviously disagrees, as she has just remarried within a week of her ex-husbands death.
Besides, any of the countries on the northern side of Europe would tend to be filled with tall blonde lovelies anyway, so if that your thing, it'd probably be paradise!
I've done some research into the device, the current firmware has a bug that causes all the processors to run at max speed even when not in use, this causes the rapid battery drain, it is fixable with a simple update.
Yes, but there's a constitutional provision for alcohol specifically in the amendment that repeals prohibition, which makes it constitutional by definition.
Probably because EMI blew, and is a black spot on the name of the series. The writing wasn't up to par, the 3D engine wasn't as good as handdrawn 2D animation, and the ending was crap.
As far as plants go, it is worth noting that plant species are generally quite geographically widespread, and despite lacking migratory tendencies, most plant species DO possess means for seed dispersal, chance allows these means to cover large areas. Once a species is widespread, any of a variety of events can occur which leave populations isolated. Fires, Earthquakes, overgrazing, competition, etc. Any of these can result in isolated populations which over time may diverge and loose the ability to interbreed.
In the absence of population isolation, populations can also divide as they radiate to fill different ecological niches. Darwin's Finches are a similar case. Many different kinds of Finch may exist, even on a single island, but each fills a different niche, some eat seeds, others insects, etc.
You must be one of those New Fangled Heliocentrists! FOOL! Everyone knows the earth does not move!
Absolute garbage.