If I really want a device sold only in Japan I can have it imported and minus some electrical issues I can use it. If I want to watch a TV show that is only in Japan I can't buy the DVD and watch it unless it's region 0 or 1.
If there is no legal (or affordable) way for me to obtain the software/video/etc I would likeI pirate it. I watch a fair share of anime and typically the only way to get certain series or to not have to wait a few years for it to come stateside is to download the fan subs and then watch them with my "illegal codes" on my linux box. I never lost any sleep about it, not sure why anyone else would even blink at it. It certainly does not solve the problem at hand but it is an effective workaround for the time being.
Sure, until you get a 1080p a year or two down the road. Just seems kinda shortsighted not to spend the extra $100 and to get a player that is going to support you for much longer.
I might use it if they give it away. This player has numerous issues, highlighted here.
For those of you who don't like to click links:
The HD-A2 is the least capable of the current crop of HD-DVD players available from Toshiba. Both of the other two models, the HD-A20 (Buy now) and the HD-XA2 (Buy now), support 1080p video. In fact the HD-A20 is nearly identical to the HD-A2, it just adds 1080p for an extra $100 more on the MSRP. So the odds that a firmware upgrade will ever be available for the HD-A2 to allow 1080p are pretty slim. How would you explain that to someone who bought an HD-A20? The HD-XA2 also comes with HDMI 1.3, better video processing, and gold plated input jacks. But the HD-A2 is the one that's getting all the hot sale prices, so it appears to be the most popular right now. But if you shop around, you might find a great deal on the HD-A20. For example, right now it's only about $25 more than the HD-A2 at the HT Guys store (as of 6/22).
Thanks for the music suggestions, I'm going to go check and see what I can download. Don't worry, I'm not Canadian so I won't contribute to your hideous piracy rate.:p
All most recruiters seem to care about is that you have a degree and where you came from. The real question you should be asking yourself is "Did I learn the material?" and if not "Is this material worth learning (aka is the reason for my bad grades a CS class)?".
If you answer yes to the first question I wouldn't worry about going back.
If you answer no to the second question I wouldn't worry about going back. A D+ in History is nothing to be proud of but won't hurt your ability to program.
Which leaves us with you if you answer yes to the second question hell yes go back.
Also remember statistically you will probably never go back to college if you leave so if you have any remaining fears go ahead and repeat the year. You might even be able to pick up a minor in something if your credits line up right. Better to fix it now then being haunted by it later.
If you get a PI, DUI, or possession charge in Indiana the court puts you on probation for a year and makes you take anywhere from 8-40 hours of classes. I received a PI and had to take 20 hours of these "Prime for Life" classes. Among many things, they explain the various stages leading up to physical addiction with alcohol and marijuana and I can definitely see some similarities between "WoW addiction" or addictions of any kind. Here is a quickly adapted WoW addiction phase table
Phase one: Take it or leave it
You can stand to be without it and while you do enjoy when you do get to play you only do it when you have free time that you might have spent playing other games. Your odds of ever getting to 70 are pretty low and are likely to have a few low level alts.
Phase two: Anticipation
You look forward to playing WoW when you are leaving work or places where you cannot play. You spend some downtime when you can't play the game looking up some items or character builds and other information about the game. You probably talk about WoW with some friends or co-workers who play. This would be your normal player of WoW who will likely hit 70 some day, make some twinks, and even join a light raiding guild. If anything else comes up with friends, work, or family you will/quit without thinking twice and go spend time with them.
Phase three: Occupation
You spend almost every waking moment thinking about WoW in some fashion. Typically work and social life are impacted as you re-prioritize your choices and life around WoW. You probably join a raiding guild and have set times everyday when you login and play. WoW is the only game you spend any serious time playing. Anything that interrupts those things will highly annoy you and you are likely to alienate yourself from others who do not play as to minimize distractions. Relationships with friends and family begin to become strained. You have 2-3 70s and clock in at least 30 hours a week.
Phase four: Complete Psychological Addiction
Note: This would be physical addiction for drugs
Your life is WoW. Every activity in your life revolves around it. You might seek out a job that gives you the best hours for raiding, pass up on promotions that would interfere with it, or even quit your job altogether. Your friends and family rarely see you and you grow distant from everyone who is not a member of your guild. Health and productivity go down the toilet after weeks and weeks of little sleep and complete occupation with the game take its toil. You lose many of your friends and any relationships where your partner does not play WoW as well. You may leave your guild as they are no longer "hardcore" enough for you and either start your own or join a very serious raiding guild. If not you are likely a guild leader or very high up in your guild.
Maybe I should start a "Prime for Gaming" support group.:P
I installed Ubuntu FF on one of my roommate's PCs since he was always having problems with various forms of spyware and general sluggishness. The install was fairly smooth but not smooth enough that he could have done it on his own. After that everything worked at startup, I restored his data from the hard drives we had backed it up to (NTFS even, very nice), gave him a tour, turned on beryl, and let him at it. He didn't ask me any questions for a week. I came up and saw him about 9 days after the install and he had a terminal open and installing some multimedia recording software that he had found on his own. When I asked him why he wasn't using synaptic he said that "Sudo apt-get whatever is just a lot easier if you already know what you are looking for".
Don't know what it is or why but Linux makes people want to become power users. He has since upgraded his box to Ubuntu Studio and fixed a few networking problems that he was having. Sure, he probably googled most of it, but he actually felt the need to learn more instead of just scratching his head and offering me beer to fix his problem. I do miss the beer though:(
I have had many reasons to do backups of games I own but the main reason is to play pirated games and they would be in their right to ban me. However they have not and I have saved enough money pirating games to get 2 xbox 360s so if it ever does come about I'm still money ahead.
You can rest easy knowing your 360 will continue to work until Microsoft bricks it trying to catch me:)
Does everyone who has violent tendencies who does not play video games go out and commit murder? No.
Does everyone who has violent tendencies who does play video games go out and commit murder? No.
Sometimes they do though. Who is to say that running over a hooker in GTA4 to get their money back did not push them over the edge? One could also argue that if running over the virtual hooker did not make him "snap" something else would have. You could also argue that being able to run over virtual hookers may have stopped him from "snapping" sooner. The possibilities for debate for this topic are endless but what it really comes down to is the person who does the act.
Take me for example. I have not gone on a killing spree but I have picked up smoking recently. I'm 23 years old. Both of my parents and all my family members smoked or dipped and have for all of my life. Out of the dozen or so close friends I have all but two smoke habitually and the other two will do so on occasion. Did this make me predisposed to smoking? Perhaps. Did my friends and family strap me in a chair and force me to smoke cigarettes until I was addicted? Of course not. I made a decision to smoke knowing full well the consequences that could come from my actions. If I were to go pick up a gun today, point it at someone and fire it would be decision I made for myself. I can fool myself into thinking I can get away with it just as I could fool myself that I was not going to get addicted to smoking cigarettes but the issue still remains: I pulled the trigger. Whatever mind tricks I played on myself would be because I knew I was going to get caught.
As far as being insane goes, I know if for whatever reason I did kill someone I would plead insanity and do whatever I could to pull it off. I'll take heavily medicated and alive over the needle any day. I'm sure some people who do plead insanity really are but I'm sure most are just smart enough to know how to stay alive.
Is it still the same game that I played 10 years ago with just more pokemon? Not that I am interested in playing it again but if I recall correctly that was the only difference between the red, blue, green, etc versions.
Here is hoping that everyone has learned their lesson about releasing multiple versions of consoles. Just do one console at release guys. If you want to release another lower end version a few months later by all means feel free but for the most part anyone who bought the lower end versions of these consoles would have eventually bought the "higher end" version if the lower end version was never available after the first price drop. All you do is sow discontent among the people who were gullible... err.. trying to save some money.
Hasn't so far:) Already got the price of another 360 in free games so if it does happen I will just buy another 360, not hack that one, and call it a day.
This is why EA and other game companies continually puts lackluster support into their online games and get away with it. The percentage of people that play online is at best 10%. When you have 90%+ of your customers buying the game who cares if their are balance issues or you can ruin a game just by pressing alt+F4 (damn you mismatch errors, damn you to hell).
I can't understand it personally. AI for games are very boring and predictable. The only way game developers make the game harder is by letting the AI cheat. This isn't the AI outsmarting you or being better then you, it's just plain crap. Even then it's usually a moderate challenge at best.
For you people so scared to play online: Go try it out. It's not as bad as you think, especially within the first month that a game has came out. Yes, you will get owned. You will likely be called a n00b. Watch what they are doing though. Learn the tactics that are being used on you and use them to defeat other players. If you want to go the extra mile read forums about tactics in between refreshing slashdot while at home or work if they allow it. You too will see be "pwning" "n00bs" with your "l33tness".
... or play through the single player and shelve it. To each his own.
Well I meant for everyone to get a chuckle out of it, not to be insightful, so that's perfectly fine with me. If I was going to be insightful I should have.. oh I don't know... put more then 10 seconds of thought into the post.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm not going to get into the whole deal but:
hardware =! software/media
If I really want a device sold only in Japan I can have it imported and minus some electrical issues I can use it. If I want to watch a TV show that is only in Japan I can't buy the DVD and watch it unless it's region 0 or 1.
If there is no legal (or affordable) way for me to obtain the software/video/etc I would likeI pirate it. I watch a fair share of anime and typically the only way to get certain series or to not have to wait a few years for it to come stateside is to download the fan subs and then watch them with my "illegal codes" on my linux box. I never lost any sleep about it, not sure why anyone else would even blink at it. It certainly does not solve the problem at hand but it is an effective workaround for the time being.
Sure, until you get a 1080p a year or two down the road. Just seems kinda shortsighted not to spend the extra $100 and to get a player that is going to support you for much longer.
The link was there in the preview, I swear! Here it is
I might use it if they give it away. This player has numerous issues, highlighted here.
For those of you who don't like to click links:
The HD-A2 is the least capable of the current crop of HD-DVD players available from Toshiba. Both of the other two models, the HD-A20 (Buy now) and the HD-XA2 (Buy now), support 1080p video. In fact the HD-A20 is nearly identical to the HD-A2, it just adds 1080p for an extra $100 more on the MSRP. So the odds that a firmware upgrade will ever be available for the HD-A2 to allow 1080p are pretty slim. How would you explain that to someone who bought an HD-A20? The HD-XA2 also comes with HDMI 1.3, better video processing, and gold plated input jacks. But the HD-A2 is the one that's getting all the hot sale prices, so it appears to be the most popular right now. But if you shop around, you might find a great deal on the HD-A20. For example, right now it's only about $25 more than the HD-A2 at the HT Guys store (as of 6/22).
Thanks for the music suggestions, I'm going to go check and see what I can download. Don't worry, I'm not Canadian so I won't contribute to your hideous piracy rate. :p
What really cracked me up about that movie was how they tried to kill the hackers. So insanely complicated for no reason :p
Anyone have the link for the trailer that got rated AO? I could not find anything in the article and the trailers on youtube all seem pretty tame.
All most recruiters seem to care about is that you have a degree and where you came from. The real question you should be asking yourself is "Did I learn the material?" and if not "Is this material worth learning (aka is the reason for my bad grades a CS class)?".
If you answer yes to the first question I wouldn't worry about going back.
If you answer no to the second question I wouldn't worry about going back. A D+ in History is nothing to be proud of but won't hurt your ability to program.
Which leaves us with you if you answer yes to the second question hell yes go back.
Also remember statistically you will probably never go back to college if you leave so if you have any remaining fears go ahead and repeat the year. You might even be able to pick up a minor in something if your credits line up right. Better to fix it now then being haunted by it later.
We all know how well Sony keeps their predictions/promises. :)
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/14 Need to get me one of those... imagine the savings! :p
If you get a PI, DUI, or possession charge in Indiana the court puts you on probation for a year and makes you take anywhere from 8-40 hours of classes. I received a PI and had to take 20 hours of these "Prime for Life" classes. Among many things, they explain the various stages leading up to physical addiction with alcohol and marijuana and I can definitely see some similarities between "WoW addiction" or addictions of any kind. Here is a quickly adapted WoW addiction phase table
/quit without thinking twice and go spend time with them.
:P
Phase one: Take it or leave it
You can stand to be without it and while you do enjoy when you do get to play you only do it when you have free time that you might have spent playing other games. Your odds of ever getting to 70 are pretty low and are likely to have a few low level alts.
Phase two: Anticipation
You look forward to playing WoW when you are leaving work or places where you cannot play. You spend some downtime when you can't play the game looking up some items or character builds and other information about the game. You probably talk about WoW with some friends or co-workers who play. This would be your normal player of WoW who will likely hit 70 some day, make some twinks, and even join a light raiding guild. If anything else comes up with friends, work, or family you will
Phase three: Occupation
You spend almost every waking moment thinking about WoW in some fashion. Typically work and social life are impacted as you re-prioritize your choices and life around WoW. You probably join a raiding guild and have set times everyday when you login and play. WoW is the only game you spend any serious time playing. Anything that interrupts those things will highly annoy you and you are likely to alienate yourself from others who do not play as to minimize distractions. Relationships with friends and family begin to become strained. You have 2-3 70s and clock in at least 30 hours a week.
Phase four: Complete Psychological Addiction
Note: This would be physical addiction for drugs
Your life is WoW. Every activity in your life revolves around it. You might seek out a job that gives you the best hours for raiding, pass up on promotions that would interfere with it, or even quit your job altogether. Your friends and family rarely see you and you grow distant from everyone who is not a member of your guild. Health and productivity go down the toilet after weeks and weeks of little sleep and complete occupation with the game take its toil. You lose many of your friends and any relationships where your partner does not play WoW as well. You may leave your guild as they are no longer "hardcore" enough for you and either start your own or join a very serious raiding guild. If not you are likely a guild leader or very high up in your guild.
Maybe I should start a "Prime for Gaming" support group.
1. Open can of whatever was on sale at Meijer
:p
2. Make coffee
3. Pour enough milk/sugar in that I don't taste the coffee
4. Consume
I'm way too tired in the morning to do much else or worry about the freshness of my beans.
I installed Ubuntu FF on one of my roommate's PCs since he was always having problems with various forms of spyware and general sluggishness. The install was fairly smooth but not smooth enough that he could have done it on his own. After that everything worked at startup, I restored his data from the hard drives we had backed it up to (NTFS even, very nice), gave him a tour, turned on beryl, and let him at it. He didn't ask me any questions for a week. I came up and saw him about 9 days after the install and he had a terminal open and installing some multimedia recording software that he had found on his own. When I asked him why he wasn't using synaptic he said that "Sudo apt-get whatever is just a lot easier if you already know what you are looking for".
:(
Don't know what it is or why but Linux makes people want to become power users. He has since upgraded his box to Ubuntu Studio and fixed a few networking problems that he was having. Sure, he probably googled most of it, but he actually felt the need to learn more instead of just scratching his head and offering me beer to fix his problem. I do miss the beer though
I have had many reasons to do backups of games I own but the main reason is to play pirated games and they would be in their right to ban me. However they have not and I have saved enough money pirating games to get 2 xbox 360s so if it ever does come about I'm still money ahead.
:)
You can rest easy knowing your 360 will continue to work until Microsoft bricks it trying to catch me
To play pirated games or game backups.
This update also does not appear to do any harm if you have a modified 360. Felt like I was playing Russian Roulette while I was updating though...
Does everyone who has violent tendencies who does not play video games go out and commit murder? No.
Does everyone who has violent tendencies who does play video games go out and commit murder? No.
Sometimes they do though. Who is to say that running over a hooker in GTA4 to get their money back did not push them over the edge? One could also argue that if running over the virtual hooker did not make him "snap" something else would have. You could also argue that being able to run over virtual hookers may have stopped him from "snapping" sooner. The possibilities for debate for this topic are endless but what it really comes down to is the person who does the act.
Take me for example. I have not gone on a killing spree but I have picked up smoking recently. I'm 23 years old. Both of my parents and all my family members smoked or dipped and have for all of my life. Out of the dozen or so close friends I have all but two smoke habitually and the other two will do so on occasion. Did this make me predisposed to smoking? Perhaps. Did my friends and family strap me in a chair and force me to smoke cigarettes until I was addicted? Of course not. I made a decision to smoke knowing full well the consequences that could come from my actions. If I were to go pick up a gun today, point it at someone and fire it would be decision I made for myself. I can fool myself into thinking I can get away with it just as I could fool myself that I was not going to get addicted to smoking cigarettes but the issue still remains: I pulled the trigger. Whatever mind tricks I played on myself would be because I knew I was going to get caught.
As far as being insane goes, I know if for whatever reason I did kill someone I would plead insanity and do whatever I could to pull it off. I'll take heavily medicated and alive over the needle any day. I'm sure some people who do plead insanity really are but I'm sure most are just smart enough to know how to stay alive.
Is it still the same game that I played 10 years ago with just more pokemon? Not that I am interested in playing it again but if I recall correctly that was the only difference between the red, blue, green, etc versions.
Here is hoping that everyone has learned their lesson about releasing multiple versions of consoles. Just do one console at release guys. If you want to release another lower end version a few months later by all means feel free but for the most part anyone who bought the lower end versions of these consoles would have eventually bought the "higher end" version if the lower end version was never available after the first price drop. All you do is sow discontent among the people who were gullible... err.. trying to save some money.
No and that is why voting among American citizens is extremely low.
Hasn't so far :) Already got the price of another 360 in free games so if it does happen I will just buy another 360, not hack that one, and call it a day.
... but I can still pirate your game on the 360 and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I can do the same with the PS3.
This is why EA and other game companies continually puts lackluster support into their online games and get away with it. The percentage of people that play online is at best 10%. When you have 90%+ of your customers buying the game who cares if their are balance issues or you can ruin a game just by pressing alt+F4 (damn you mismatch errors, damn you to hell).
... or play through the single player and shelve it. To each his own.
I can't understand it personally. AI for games are very boring and predictable. The only way game developers make the game harder is by letting the AI cheat. This isn't the AI outsmarting you or being better then you, it's just plain crap. Even then it's usually a moderate challenge at best.
For you people so scared to play online: Go try it out. It's not as bad as you think, especially within the first month that a game has came out. Yes, you will get owned. You will likely be called a n00b. Watch what they are doing though. Learn the tactics that are being used on you and use them to defeat other players. If you want to go the extra mile read forums about tactics in between refreshing slashdot while at home or work if they allow it. You too will see be "pwning" "n00bs" with your "l33tness".
Well I meant for everyone to get a chuckle out of it, not to be insightful, so that's perfectly fine with me. If I was going to be insightful I should have.. oh I don't know... put more then 10 seconds of thought into the post.