Personally, I really don't see why the ESRB can't work like the voluntary movie rating system.
Amen. All the law should require is that retailers check id for purchasers of said games. Mature is 17+ and Teen is 13+ (I think). There shouldn't be any more involvement politcally.
Adults can still purchase games without hassle. Mom can buy Little Jimmy Zombie Teabaggers 4 (as mentioned in another post) with no trouble. Now Little Jimmy can not. Problem is solved.
for twenty games. I wish I knew more about some on the list.
20: Left 4 Dead (Turtle Rock Studios: Sometime In 2007)
19. Pirates of the Burning Sea (Flying Lab Software: Mid 2007)
18. Medal of Honor: Airborne (Electronic Arts: Mid 2007)
17. Age of Conan (Funcom-Eidos: First Half of 2007)
16. Frontlines: Fuel of War: (Kaos Studios-THQ: Summer 2007)
15. Shadowrun (FASA Studios-Microsoft: Sometime in 2007)
14. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (Sigil Games: First Quarter of 2007)
13. Command and Conquer 3 (Electronic Arts: March 2007)
12. Lord of the Rings Online (Turbine-Midway: First Half Of 2007)
11. Hellgate London (Flagship Studios-Namco: Late 2007)
10. Warhammer Online (Mythic-EA: Late 2007)
9. Bioshock (Irrational Games-2K Games: First Half of 2007)
8. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl (GSC GameWorld-THQ: March 2007)
7. Half-Life 2: Episode 2/Portal/Team Fortress 2 (Valve: Summer 2007)
6. Unreal Tournament 2007: (Epic-Midway: Sometime in 2007)
5. Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games-THQ: March 2007)
4. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage-id Software-Activision: First Half of 2007)
3. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (Blizzard: January 2007)
2. Spore (Maxis-EA: Second Half Of 2007)
1. Crysis: (Crytek-EA: Sometime in 2007)
Tommorow, Bush will claim the sky is in fact - purple. Rumors also suggest he may claim 'nuclear' is correctly spelled as 'nucular.' Further reports as they are made available.
I completely agree with your first paragraph but disagree about the logic getting there. But I really like the second paragraph.
The biggest problem with celebrities speaking out on science or policy isn't that they do. They can talk about as many things as they want. I'll half-heartedly joke that they can come to my apartment and talk me to death in my living room but that might just open the doors to everyone.
The biggest problem, that faces the American public (I imagine some the same still occurs abroad), is that people don't care to figure out the facts for themselves. They take such statements at face value and decide if they agree or not, just like watching television. The problems here are the same pretty much on any topic that is regularly discussed here: net neutrality, government surveillance, etc.
The world has become a "point, buy, click" existance and now people just can't be bothered to learn something unless it impacts them. And usually when they do, it's too late. Unless we can solve the general apathy regarding critical thinking and learning, things will not be getting any better.
Did you know, if you toss a live frog into a boiling pot of water he jumps right out, that's no surprise. But put him in a pot of room temperature water and he stays there, even while you are slowly turning up the burner. An hour later you have one dead frog. It's amazing how similar this is to how the sheep behave.
I find how much this incorrect "metaphor" has spread sickening. It sure makes for a nice story but it doesn't make it any truer. Let's change it to something more ridiculous.
My opinion on the scifi original movies is that they are an outlet for B-list actors, directors, and writers to work. Unfortunately (and as we both agree), there is a severe lack of quality control.
You made a lot of good points but I have one nitpick. How does one define real scifi? Some of the ideas are interesting that they write about but the script is shoddy with dialogue worse than the new Star Wars movies. If the SF channel sat down and actually looked at their movies, they could actually improve a lot but I doubt the management would like to spend the money that it would require.
I just went there and there are two references but I suppose it depends on when you visit. It's a moot point.
I agree though that Scifi needs to advertise it's bread and butter shows. Instead, they show crap for the scifi-pedia, scifi tech, and other nonsense. Instead, they should be telling me when new episodes are starting again for their shows. I am not interested in hunting down when shows should be coming on, especially advertising that the show is moving to Sunday night.
Scifi needs to look at itself and figure out what it wants to be as a channel. I believe they should remove ECW from their lineup and reduce the number of scifi original movies shown, replacing them with reruns of their top tier shows. Perhaps make some management changes and find some new shows to help out but remember that they aren't a network show. And it wouldn't hurt to advertise the show on other networks.
Don't forget the technologies for whaling on the moon! But when it doesn't work out, we need a way to sing that whaling tune.
All jokes aside, this is pretty cool work. Nothing worse than paying to go to the moon (or Mars) and finding out it doesn't work. Besides, we can always test it here for way less.
Well when part of your coporate strategy is this...
Strong brands play a pivotal role in Ubisoft's strategy, ensuring the group's recurrent revenue and long-term financial health. Ubisoft is fortunate enough to have a portfolio of eight multi-million unit-selling brands that today represent approximately two-thirds of its annual turnover. The company furthermore plans to create three new brands every two years, expanding its catalogue to new market segments.
Hollywood movie and TV licenses have reinforced our strategy of brand creation. Our licensing agreements with major actors in the entertainment industry result in interactive games based on popular franchises and blockbuster movies. Thanks to resounding successes, such as Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, Ubisoft has pushed back the genre's limits in terms of quality and innovation so that we are now one of tinsel town's choice partners.
Alas, two of my favorite series were brought crashing down like a wounded duck.
Terrorism isn't even mentioned in the article. Is it unreasonable to have any cooperation at all among the police?
Other posters have mentioned that searches and the like will be tracked and recorded so it isn't just a free access system. Another mentioned about how it helps officers out when dealing with someone they just pulled over. I like their reasoning and would support it.
Provided you have a clean record from then to now, the incidents from thirty years down the road shouldn't matter. If you have just been released from prison, things would be different than if you were nabbed for B&E as a kid, did community service, and straightened up.
Obviously, I'm hoping that the police would show some sense here. Perhaps I might be somewhat idealistic since I haven't had a run-in with the law and am still young. But if managed properly with thorough oversight, I don't believe it would be a huge problem.
I suppose they are linking their services first with the notion that people who like and currently use google's other services would like to be informed of it. I know a lot of people that use many of their services and might enjoy another.
Fair? Probably not. But since it's their product, I suppose they are welcome to do as they like. If it becomes a big problem, someone else may step in and people will switch.
Funny enough, some my friends and I were thinking about making a gag season of 24. It would pretty much be like a day off or normal day.
People playing solitare at work, someone going to a baseball game, another playing WoW or something for 24 hours. General stuff like that. Perhaps some sleeping and some partying. Someone gets too drunk and blacks out.
I suppose we'd have to find plot twists to make it not make sense if you skip a couple episodes to keep it in good faith with the original show.
Unfortunately, the link is still dead so I suppose I can only give my reasons (I'm starting in the Fall). I went to graduate school for a couple reasons.
My first was that I wasn't really interested in eing a CAD monkey in engineering. A lot of people I know are doing similar things right out of school. CAD is a really cool software tool but it just wasn't for me.
The second is that through my undergraduate researh, I got to see a lot of what goes on in the program I am entering. I've seen a lot of presentations from our lab and participated in various research. I found that systems design and optimization is an interesting field.
My last reason was that it was free. I had the connections and I had the interest to go. My research advisor told me to apply and they took care of the rest. I was certainly qualified but why leave where I was when I knew what I was getting here. Plus, I recently got a NASA grant too so I'm guaranteed funding for two years.
Medicare is getting slashed? Congress just passed the largest increase in Medicare spending in decades (Prescription Drug Program).
It's always easy to increase spending when you can't negotiate for reduced price drugs for Medicare. I don't disagree with your point but I suppose I really dislike politicians in the drug company pants.
I see more of a migration pattern where businesses go to cheaper parts of the world when another part becomes too expensive or has rules (employee or environmental protections) that they don't like. In other words, every so many years a proserpous economy will have to suddenly crash and die as all the international migration businesses suddenly disappear to another place to rape and pillage.
I think of it as crop rotation. Except instead of moving fields on time, we rape them barren and let them become fallow on their own.
Or use something like Space ShipOne/White Knight that uses and an aerodynamic system for initial assent?
This was proposed while NASA was selecting an architecture for next-gen. Limited payload options requiring increased launches and therefore, decreasing mission success rate. If it requires 24 launches to go and one fails, you are fubared.
Its probably possible to design a shuttle version 2.0 that looks a lot like the existing shuttle (keeps lots of development costs down) but that doesn't have the risks or costs of the current shuttle.
CEV already has reduced development costs by takign advantage of previous development from both Apollo and STS. They are using SRBs with a modified external tank for heavy lift and then a joint SRB/external tank concept for the crew. This setup also eliminates any foam concerns - granted it completely ignores trying to fix any such problem. But unlike Apollo, we will be landing on land, which should reduce costs associated with an oceanic landing.
A lot of the technology is very promising and NASA has thought this out very well (compared to the shuttle). The next 20 years will be quite exciting so long as everything stays on schedule.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, I really don't see why the ESRB can't work like the voluntary movie rating system.
Amen. All the law should require is that retailers check id for purchasers of said games. Mature is 17+ and Teen is 13+ (I think). There shouldn't be any more involvement politcally.
Adults can still purchase games without hassle. Mom can buy Little Jimmy Zombie Teabaggers 4 (as mentioned in another post) with no trouble. Now Little Jimmy can not. Problem is solved.
So it would appear that their reputation has been slammed?
/. Missed Joke System Error.
M MMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Error: User response informs user of said joke.
Correction: Future postings should contain: "VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM
Have a nice day.
for twenty games. I wish I knew more about some on the list.
20: Left 4 Dead (Turtle Rock Studios: Sometime In 2007)
19. Pirates of the Burning Sea (Flying Lab Software: Mid 2007)
18. Medal of Honor: Airborne (Electronic Arts: Mid 2007)
17. Age of Conan (Funcom-Eidos: First Half of 2007)
16. Frontlines: Fuel of War: (Kaos Studios-THQ: Summer 2007)
15. Shadowrun (FASA Studios-Microsoft: Sometime in 2007)
14. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes (Sigil Games: First Quarter of 2007)
13. Command and Conquer 3 (Electronic Arts: March 2007)
12. Lord of the Rings Online (Turbine-Midway: First Half Of 2007)
11. Hellgate London (Flagship Studios-Namco: Late 2007)
10. Warhammer Online (Mythic-EA: Late 2007)
9. Bioshock (Irrational Games-2K Games: First Half of 2007)
8. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl (GSC GameWorld-THQ: March 2007)
7. Half-Life 2: Episode 2/Portal/Team Fortress 2 (Valve: Summer 2007)
6. Unreal Tournament 2007: (Epic-Midway: Sometime in 2007)
5. Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games-THQ: March 2007)
4. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage-id Software-Activision: First Half of 2007)
3. World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (Blizzard: January 2007)
2. Spore (Maxis-EA: Second Half Of 2007)
1. Crysis: (Crytek-EA: Sometime in 2007)
Breaking news at the White House
Tommorow, Bush will claim the sky is in fact - purple. Rumors also suggest he may claim 'nuclear' is correctly spelled as 'nucular.' Further reports as they are made available.
Ah... signing statements.
Beyond the obvious karma boost, how the hell is this informative?
I completely agree with your first paragraph but disagree about the logic getting there. But I really like the second paragraph.
The biggest problem with celebrities speaking out on science or policy isn't that they do. They can talk about as many things as they want. I'll half-heartedly joke that they can come to my apartment and talk me to death in my living room but that might just open the doors to everyone.
The biggest problem, that faces the American public (I imagine some the same still occurs abroad), is that people don't care to figure out the facts for themselves. They take such statements at face value and decide if they agree or not, just like watching television. The problems here are the same pretty much on any topic that is regularly discussed here: net neutrality, government surveillance, etc.
The world has become a "point, buy, click" existance and now people just can't be bothered to learn something unless it impacts them. And usually when they do, it's too late. Unless we can solve the general apathy regarding critical thinking and learning, things will not be getting any better.
all your chairs lest you worry about "All your chairs are thrown by us."
Did you know, if you toss a live frog into a boiling pot of water he jumps right out, that's no surprise. But put him in a pot of room temperature water and he stays there, even while you are slowly turning up the burner. An hour later you have one dead frog. It's amazing how similar this is to how the sheep behave.
I find how much this incorrect "metaphor" has spread sickening. It sure makes for a nice story but it doesn't make it any truer. Let's change it to something more ridiculous.
My opinion on the scifi original movies is that they are an outlet for B-list actors, directors, and writers to work. Unfortunately (and as we both agree), there is a severe lack of quality control.
You made a lot of good points but I have one nitpick. How does one define real scifi? Some of the ideas are interesting that they write about but the script is shoddy with dialogue worse than the new Star Wars movies. If the SF channel sat down and actually looked at their movies, they could actually improve a lot but I doubt the management would like to spend the money that it would require.
Holiday break. Christmas supercedes anything and everything in the United States. It's just as bad with Fox in October and the frakking MLB playoffs.
The real challenge is remembering to tune in on Sundays now.
I just went there and there are two references but I suppose it depends on when you visit. It's a moot point.
I agree though that Scifi needs to advertise it's bread and butter shows. Instead, they show crap for the scifi-pedia, scifi tech, and other nonsense. Instead, they should be telling me when new episodes are starting again for their shows. I am not interested in hunting down when shows should be coming on, especially advertising that the show is moving to Sunday night.
Scifi needs to look at itself and figure out what it wants to be as a channel. I believe they should remove ECW from their lineup and reduce the number of scifi original movies shown, replacing them with reruns of their top tier shows. Perhaps make some management changes and find some new shows to help out but remember that they aren't a network show. And it wouldn't hurt to advertise the show on other networks.
Don't forget the technologies for whaling on the moon! But when it doesn't work out, we need a way to sing that whaling tune.
All jokes aside, this is pretty cool work. Nothing worse than paying to go to the moon (or Mars) and finding out it doesn't work. Besides, we can always test it here for way less.
Well when part of your coporate strategy is this...
Strong brands play a pivotal role in Ubisoft's strategy, ensuring the group's recurrent revenue and long-term financial health. Ubisoft is fortunate enough to have a portfolio of eight multi-million unit-selling brands that today represent approximately two-thirds of its annual turnover. The company furthermore plans to create three new brands every two years, expanding its catalogue to new market segments.
Hollywood movie and TV licenses have reinforced our strategy of brand creation. Our licensing agreements with major actors in the entertainment industry result in interactive games based on popular franchises and blockbuster movies. Thanks to resounding successes, such as Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, Ubisoft has pushed back the genre's limits in terms of quality and innovation so that we are now one of tinsel town's choice partners.
Alas, two of my favorite series were brought crashing down like a wounded duck.
Terrorism isn't even mentioned in the article. Is it unreasonable to have any cooperation at all among the police?
Other posters have mentioned that searches and the like will be tracked and recorded so it isn't just a free access system. Another mentioned about how it helps officers out when dealing with someone they just pulled over. I like their reasoning and would support it.
Provided you have a clean record from then to now, the incidents from thirty years down the road shouldn't matter. If you have just been released from prison, things would be different than if you were nabbed for B&E as a kid, did community service, and straightened up.
Obviously, I'm hoping that the police would show some sense here. Perhaps I might be somewhat idealistic since I haven't had a run-in with the law and am still young. But if managed properly with thorough oversight, I don't believe it would be a huge problem.
She'll come in a two-pack. One in case you have an emergency with the first.
I suppose they are linking their services first with the notion that people who like and currently use google's other services would like to be informed of it. I know a lot of people that use many of their services and might enjoy another.
Fair? Probably not. But since it's their product, I suppose they are welcome to do as they like. If it becomes a big problem, someone else may step in and people will switch.
Funny enough, some my friends and I were thinking about making a gag season of 24. It would pretty much be like a day off or normal day.
People playing solitare at work, someone going to a baseball game, another playing WoW or something for 24 hours. General stuff like that. Perhaps some sleeping and some partying. Someone gets too drunk and blacks out.
I suppose we'd have to find plot twists to make it not make sense if you skip a couple episodes to keep it in good faith with the original show.
Bah! Us lefties have always had the upper hand.
Unfortunately, the link is still dead so I suppose I can only give my reasons (I'm starting in the Fall). I went to graduate school for a couple reasons.
My first was that I wasn't really interested in eing a CAD monkey in engineering. A lot of people I know are doing similar things right out of school. CAD is a really cool software tool but it just wasn't for me.
The second is that through my undergraduate researh, I got to see a lot of what goes on in the program I am entering. I've seen a lot of presentations from our lab and participated in various research. I found that systems design and optimization is an interesting field.
My last reason was that it was free. I had the connections and I had the interest to go. My research advisor told me to apply and they took care of the rest. I was certainly qualified but why leave where I was when I knew what I was getting here. Plus, I recently got a NASA grant too so I'm guaranteed funding for two years.
System Shock 2 (especially with the enhanced graphics mods)
Where can these be found? I've really wanted to play System Shock 1 and 2 for a while.
Point timster.
Medicare is getting slashed? Congress just passed the largest increase in Medicare spending in decades (Prescription Drug Program).
It's always easy to increase spending when you can't negotiate for reduced price drugs for Medicare. I don't disagree with your point but I suppose I really dislike politicians in the drug company pants.
I see more of a migration pattern where businesses go to cheaper parts of the world when another part becomes too expensive or has rules (employee or environmental protections) that they don't like. In other words, every so many years a proserpous economy will have to suddenly crash and die as all the international migration businesses suddenly disappear to another place to rape and pillage.
I think of it as crop rotation. Except instead of moving fields on time, we rape them barren and let them become fallow on their own.
However, this is not a good thing.
Or use something like Space ShipOne/White Knight that uses and an aerodynamic system for initial assent?
This was proposed while NASA was selecting an architecture for next-gen. Limited payload options requiring increased launches and therefore, decreasing mission success rate. If it requires 24 launches to go and one fails, you are fubared.
Its probably possible to design a shuttle version 2.0 that looks a lot like the existing shuttle (keeps lots of development costs down) but that doesn't have the risks or costs of the current shuttle.
CEV already has reduced development costs by takign advantage of previous development from both Apollo and STS. They are using SRBs with a modified external tank for heavy lift and then a joint SRB/external tank concept for the crew. This setup also eliminates any foam concerns - granted it completely ignores trying to fix any such problem. But unlike Apollo, we will be landing on land, which should reduce costs associated with an oceanic landing.
A lot of the technology is very promising and NASA has thought this out very well (compared to the shuttle). The next 20 years will be quite exciting so long as everything stays on schedule.