I didn't follow your train of thought 100%, but like the poster above me stated, Wii Sports and it's Basebase (bat) work really well for how close the bat mimics the remote.
As for your concerns of blocking and such, it's simple, just design the game mechanics to take this into effect. For example, if you're going to block with your lightsaber, then you hold the A+B buttons down, which will put the lightsaber into the 'block' position. As for the animation regarding this, they can chose to 'instantly' move the saber to your front or to animate it in a more slowly timed movement. 'Instantly' might sound kind of silly at first, but it's actually pretty common in game design.
Mortal Kombat does this. When you punch, your characters hand 'instantly' appears fully extended and then is animated to withdraw back into the character. This creates a different response feel for the fighting game such that your button press, and characters reaction felt more in-sync. They tried doing it with animation on the arm extension but it frustrated players because they felt like the control response was 'sluggish'.
So, anyway, LucasArts and their design team can decide how to 'make it work' to be the more enjoyable, but having to hold the saber in front of you or at a certain position to block, isn't necessary. In fact, most 'real' motions don't feel 'real' when translated into games. There's usually short cuts (like described above) that are used to 'enhance' the feel, otherwise, your game character just won't feel as 'epic' or 'heroic'.
Hmmm... re-reading your post, I understand your 'follow-through' thought now. From playing the Wii, there is 'some' relevance to this issue, but it's not noticeable given the fact that the remote isn't fully swing like a sword in most cases, but rather it's just a flick of your wrist. This means you can move the controller much faster than a swing, so you can reposition the remote for a follow up action. Likewise, as mentioned above, LucasArts can implement the game play to prevent such issues. Example, if sabers cross paths, then the 'block' sound happens and your follow through is impossible to inflict damage until the next full/semi-full swing. Think of it like this... it's no different than smashing the 'A' button in current games to swing your sword. You might have mashed that button 3 times but you've only did one swipe with your sword. It's not impossible, it just means that people should not expect a game where you can wildly swing your sword while you cover your eyes with the other hand and hope you can kill your opponent. =) Games work best when they limit the 'realism' into the game.
It's odd because several people I've described the Wii to have specifically mentioned lightsabers.
hehe, it's the first thing my older brother said (who was a kid when Star Wars burned it's story into his head). With the remote speaker, I can see the 'wooh wooh' of the lightsaber to be a great fit... now if they could just make the batteries last longer! =)
But is this new game play interaction something that can keep the wii going in the longterm?...Also, with PS/3 being a fully functional computer with a keyboard/mouse/blueray, its more than just a console. And Xbox live with internet access to media is more than a console.
My crystal ball thinks it will have long-term viability. There is a lot of potential with this system. Yes, it's too bad that it's not more powerful, but I'm more than happy with the graphics of the games I play. Although, I won't deny that HD games don't make my jaw drop.
First, the Wii remote. It's a pointing device... it's practically a mouse. I already find punching in my name in a virtual keyboard to be a billion times faster than using a controller to scroll through the letters. But lets not go there, lets instead think of adding a wireless keyboard accessory. You now have the workings of 'computer like' interface. Real Time Strategy games (that often fail on Consoles) become much more viable and fun. You can quickly select your troops in the field by dragging out a selection box, much like computer games do. With a wireless keyboard accessory, chatting becomes easy, and a keyboard is easy to rest in your lap.
All Wii's have online support. You can already download games for the virtual console. It will take a while, but developers should be able to utilize the wireless to create online games. Now, companies, like Blizzard, can release Wii ports for their Warcraft and Starcraft strategy games (not WoW) which can find a whole new revenue path for games they've already made and just need to be ported (see low investment, high profits). The Wii is already planning on having a Weather and News channel, though I do not know how this will work, but it's interesting. I know they have plans to release a browser (I think it was Opera?).
This opens up the 'casual' games department for the Wii (which was just talked about here on/. about their profitability). People should/might be able to enjoy those Yahoo! and Flash games (if the browser can support Java and Flash plugins). I'm just waiting for a developer to create a simple, cheap, download-able 'virtual console'-ish game with network support.
It's simply the remote that I think will make this happen. The remote will work well as a pointer device, like a computer mouse, and allow game development to incorporate this idea and finally some of our favorite PC games might be as enjoyable from the couch. =)
Of course, that's already besides the 'traditional' games that are made as well as the potential for more unique game play using the motion sensing abilities.
Cheers, Fozzy
ps. Nope, I'm not sure if this will all happen, but I just see the potential.
Raised bumps will be too easy to forge with the aim of tricking blind people as people with full vision will ignore the bumps.
Two things...
First, no matter what method a government uses to increase recognition of bills, the blind will always be more susceptible to fraud than others simple because money, by design, requires 2 or more people to make it 'worth' anything. Money has to 'change hands'. An 'evil' cashier is just as likely to report the wrong price as a blind person is to hand over the wrong value that the 'evil' cashier is to return (on purpose) the wrong value.
Now, I worked as a cashier for a local grocery chain in High School. Cashiers can easily make mistakes, and commonly due at some point, where they, themselves return the wrong amount of change. For instances, I've bought beer at a bar with a $10 and received $12.50 back in change (plus the beer). The honest people, when they notice it, will point that out to the bar keep. But honest people night not notice it. They themselves will just grab the bills and stuff it into their pockets.
So, the point I'm trying to make is, problems with money 'recognition', so to speak, occurs naturally by 'human error', irrelevant of visual abilities. Transactions requires 2 people, if one is blind, they can still be fooled by the 2nd party or make a natural mistake themselves. Changing the size of money doesn't necessarily mean these issues will magically go away.
My second point would be simply... why not? Sure, there are always people resistant to change, but what good reason should the U.S. government not start making different sized money? Speaking from someone who's live a short time, as a student, in the London area, different sized money was barely noticeable by me. Which also makes me think, how much of a size difference is required for the blind to actually pickup the difference and to what are they comparing it with? "oh, I know this is a 5 note, and this bill is smaller so it must be a 1 note and this is larger, so it must be... either a 10, 20, 50, or 100 note".
Also, a radio station I listen too on my morning commute was talking about this and a caller explained that blind people are taught to fold their bills certain ways to understand their value and when they receive their money at a bank they ask the cashiers to fold it for them. Also, this called claimed that the majority of blind people have a guide who go with them to places to avoid problems.
Lastly, so a judge says that money is illegal... so, what should we do? Stop using money? Well, in America, that's not so hard, I've got a wallet of plastic I can choose from. =)
My guess is that that person had similar problems to me, sent it back to Nintendo, they wiped the firmware and sent it to me.
That would be my guess as well, and probably the most likely situation. I'd call Nintendo again and complain and write a letter (take photos for documentation). This time, since the box works, I'd request a new box be sent (brand new), and a shipping box to return the damaged box (it's physically damaged due to scratches). This way, you're not without a Wii for a period of time. I heard there was a problem with firmware for a large number of boxes (1% of a lot is still a lot).
I saw House of the Dead last one night when I was at my parents house. It was on one of the obscure movie stations.
I read the digital synopsis of the film and was like "Oh, I didn't know they made a movie on this game, I use to like this game! I'll watch it!".
The funny thing is, before I read the synopses, I thought it was some kind of late night softcore pr0n movie (a'la 'skin'amax) since the casting, acting, clothing, and plot all felt about on par. It was like a train wreck, I couldn't help but watch, hoping it will just get better... only it never did.
Cheers,
Fozzy
[Slate's Eric Sofke]claims the Wii Remote has major accuracy problems, which are compensated for by too-easy games...And hardcore gamers like me aren't going to bother with a magic wand that makes us less efficient at killing aliens."
This sounds like a review for Red Steel. The controls are very difficult and even buggy to the point they jump around the screen. On moments of clarity (aka the crosshair not jumping), it was very easy to point it my enemy and headshot them. Due to this technicality, Red Steel feels like it WAS made easy. No matter how many bullets you take, if you hide for 5+ secs without damage, your life will refill to full... at any time. They also make ammo easy to come buy.
For a console that wants to start a revolution, making users doubt their reflexes is a serious design flaw.
This console does change a lot. Just because one First Person Shooter game has a lousy control scheme, doesn't mean the whole interface is flawed. In fact, I'm actually surprised the by accuracy of it. On other games, like DBZ and Zelda, they give you cross hairs which can move across the screen effectively and accurately to my movements. Or so it seems.
The truth is, the system is still too now to judge it's interface on one poorly designed control system on one game. I can tell you, the Wii has really improved the DBZ fighting game experiance compared to the last 2 games and I look forward to what other creative developers come up with! I just hope that all FPS don't suffer the Red Steel issues or maybe Sofke will be right.
Sexual relations was defined by the judge! Maybe you should stop playing games and watching Bill O'Really...
hehe, I mean that president Clinton defended his statement by saying he didn't feel oral sex was sex, so that's why he said what he did. Though, I cannot seem to find a link to this defense, so I might remember wrong and I was probably playing games at the time.
If they could try you for breaking a law they just made up to fit the situation, don't you think that could be a little dangerous?
Absolutely! Such a system is ripe for abuse (and no doubt it would be). But would you not think twice of doing something "questionably wrong" if you could be punished for it? In the case of the graverobbers, I would say no. I doubt those guys knew the law was on their side when they decided to commit their (sort of) crime.
I guess the question I pose is, should the justice department of a government be able to punish you for doing something deemed (and clearly) wrong, even if there is no specific law on record for or against an action at that time? Lets say, if a jury of their peers, find them guilty of wrong doing beyond a reasonable doubt?
If I walked across the street, inside the crossing lines, and I was arrested, and tried for 'walking across the street' and found guilty by people of my society (assume fairly or without bias), should that be punishable if there was no law saying I could not walk across the street? What if I there is no law, but I knew that it was considered morally or socially wrong to walk across that street? How about if there is a law, but society thinks it's fine or normal to do it? Of course, this scenario involves no one but the accused. What if this action effects someone emotionally or physically? Through some sort of Voodo, walking across the street causes a cramp in the leg of a person in the house closest to the crossing? Or vise versa, such a crossing made someone healthier but was deemed illegal?
The example of gravedigging perverts isn't such a hideous failing of law
But what about the fact that, despite the entire community and legal system (judges, lawyers, police, citizens, etc) wanted to charge the people in this case with a serious crime, but could not. Would it not be a failing of 'law' to punish people for doing things that where deemed wrong by the community, without question or 'reasonable doubt'? I don't recall one person thinking there might be some 'reasonable' explanation for doing this gravedigging act.
the whole point of the US legal system is to allow freedom unless it's something deemed important enough to dictate laws
True, but like this email case, this graverobbing case is similar in that there are plenty of laws on the books against unwanted sexual contact. Only, the laws are stated (or implied?) that the people are alive. There are also laws on the defacement of property, breaking and entering, etc. but none are specifically stated to include the situation described above. A dead person cannot say no. Digging a whole in someone else's ground is not a serious offense, despite what the person was going to do. You can throw the book at someone with a gun on his way to commit murder, but how do you charge someone with a shovel, digging a whole, to commit, what may or may not be a crime if there are no laws that saying specifically?
Should law interpretation be a reasonable power for judges? We know that this has been major issues in the past US elections with regards to the definition of marriage. I could argue for this in both ways and agree with it in both cases. Laws work best if there's black and white, it's the gray area that makes things difficult.
No, they sound exactly like most hardcore gamers. But we need to distinguish most hardcore gamers from your run-of-the-mill gamer.
The thing I often find while I grow older is that terms and definitions are having less distinction as time goes one. What's the difference between a gamer and a hardcore gamer or even a casual gamer? You ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers.
One persons definition of a hardcore gamer might not be the same as someone else's. I could play WoW 2-3 hours a night and be called hardcore by a person who plays 5 hours a week and 'casual' by someone who plays 8 hours a day and 15 hours on weekends/holidays. Yet, one could define someone with the same term depending not on the criteria of time spent playing but activities done during play. A person who spends 2-3 hours in a raid to get loot could be called 'hardcore' while a person who continues to create new characters and plays them solo all the time, could be considered 'casual'.
I find this is happening on many levels outside of gaming. I was just having a discussion with my fiancee where we where arguing over the same agreement but wanted to call it two different things until we reached a decision to clarify our points by created specific terms to distinguish what we where talking about, since we could not argue points since we were not arguing over the same (but similar) things. Or I could point out former President Bill Clinton's argument that "he did not have sexual relations with that woman" because "sexual relations" was re-defined by him.
Anyone else notice this? This (seemingly) transcendence into generalization or the definition of terms to suit our own points?
Okay, give me a teensy weensy bit of credit here...Wait... *gets out ruler*... Damn!"
lol, I'm not saying I don't believe you. I know how networks work well enough (web dev. here) and this isn't the first time I heard people having slow downloads. It felt really slow for me as well, and I'm still surprised how slow it does connect. I just was recounting that on the time I updated it worked fine (if waiting 5-10mins for the patch is fine), to help troubleshoot the fact this might be a 'WoW Tuesday' sort of thing (everyones updating their patch at the same time). I just feel bad for those who are having worse issues.
Or do we do what's right with regards to (legal) policy?
I would side with the judge and say this law should include IM's and any electronic communication, VoIP, blogs (MySpace), etc. However, this does leave open the attack for a different case, where it's not as obvious or the crime is not as heinous, to be exploited in the same regards... think RIAA.
I think this is a situation where one has to weight the seriousness of the crime against the importance of the law.
This makes me think of the case in Wisconsin where 2 guys saw a picture in the newspaper of a 21 year old girl who recently died in an accident. They thought she looked pretty so they went and bought some condoms and dug up her grave. They where caught at the cemetery, before anything could come about, but since there were no laws on the book, they couldn't stick any charges to these guys.
This is a situation, again, where the law should be capable of proper punishment of these people and not just some petty crime because 'there was nothing on the books specifically'. In a perfect world, we would all agree and we wouldn't need written laws because we could just file things case by case, but that's just not realistic.
I've not had any problems with this WiiConnect24 bug. I'm not sure if I've updated this content yet.
However, the update on the night I used the Wii store was slow, but not that much. It took maybe 5mins to download the update. Perhaps that was before most people where doing their updates, but I didn't find it too bad. I can imagine it's just Nintendo's servers getting hammered all at once.
I do find that it does take a long time to just log-into the Wii store. About 30 seconds to just load the store, which seems really slow for some reason. Is there some sort of handshake protocol they're doing to increase the login time?
I hope they at least made it so that you have to hold it down for like 4 seconds before it turns the Wii off.
The power button is in the top left corner of the remote, which is really very far to reach with a finger and not close to other buttons. It's sunken, so the top of button is level with the controller so you have to press into the controller to activate it. You have to hold it down for like 3 seconds before it powers off. I'm not sure how it works with other controllers, or if only the 1st player controller and turn the system off. I do know that when I hold the button down, first the screen will say "controller 1 has been turned off, please turn on a controller". So, maybe other controllers that are still active will prevent the system from shutting down?
I never really understood the concept of buying 4 games at launch. I can only play through a game in about a week if I really try. I can understand buying maybe red steel along with the wii (and included wii sports), but really, how many games can you play simotaniously?
Technically, you cannot play any game simultaneously... well, unless I had 2 Wii's and 2 TV's next to each other. But, I get your point. However, it's not hard. I picked up...
1 fighting game - Dragon Ball Z - Easy to pick up and play and compete with friends when they're over.
1 multi-player Co-Op - Marvel Ultimate Alliance - To play with friends when they're over. Also, I enjoy Marvel comic characters. I've been a fan of Spider-Man and the X-Men for a long time.
1 FPS - Red Steel - A shooting game. Something different, again, can make for a fun time when you and your friends just don't feel like hack'n slash.
1 RPG/Single Player Story - Zelda - Hey, it's Zelda, why wouldn't you get it? *smiles* But seriously, this is for me. It's to continue to enjoy the Zelda franchise and emerse myself into a storyline... unlike say Marvel or DBZ where I already know the story, played through it 1 million times (DBZ is not the first DBZ game, hehe), or it's just not all that important (Marvel).
So, it's not hard to get 4 games at launch. However, the only disappointment is Red Steel has buggy controls and it will probably be returned by me real soon, so I can pickup something else, which I'm thinking of Rachet or Second Opinion.
Pick up a second hand 512 SD card
Why would I want a 2nd hand 512MB SD card? I'm not into the whole "I'll save $20 now but I'll have to spend $40 later" when I can spend $40 now and not have to buy anything later. I also don't want to have 3-4 512MB SD cards laying around because I've filled them all up, instead of having just 1 that stays in the machine. This way I can pickup a 2GB card, slap it in, and forget about it until I sell my Wii, or I download too many Virtual Console games, hehe. (which, btw, Nintendo has to be making a KILLING selling these things!) Also, from my quick comparison, 512MB cards go for about $20 new while 2GB (4x the storage) go for $40 (2x the cost). Second hand? I'm not sure where to even get one.
he online functionality doesn't work yet, so you can probably put off the classic controller until Feb.
Maybe I'm not following you, but the online functionality works just fine. I've already shopped on the online store and bought Zelda the night I got my Wii. Not much choice out there, and there's no browser support yet, but there's still use. Also, on that note, I reserved the classical controller way back when and didn't realize they where attachments to the remote and not stand-alone, which kind of sucks.
On that note, no, I've not spent extensive time on all my games. I'm currently loving DBZ with the new controller scheme, but I have tried all my games. And like I said, they are also there due to having friends come over to game with. Come Thanksgiving, this will be very useful to play some fun games with my family and friends.
I can say I sure hope it's not a 4 year life span! I could live with 6, where is the decline of the systems popularity due to a new system being launched... Unless said new system is 100% backwards compatible again, like the Wii, so I could trade in my Wii and keep the games I love.
Hmmm... this system is still very expensive for me...
$250 - console $49.99 (4) - games $39.99 (3) - Wii Remotes $19.99 (1) - nunchuck (still trying to find 2 more) $19.99 (2) - classic controller (still haven't arrived at our GameStop oddly enough) $39.99 - 2gb SD card (Haven't ordered quite yet) $20.00 - Wii Points (to purchase Zelda, and have a few floating around for an impulse purchase)
===
$660 - $740 (if you count the 2 Nunchucks and SD I still need/want to buy)
Of course, I also had this... ~$210 - trade-in for games
Still a lot of money. Though, I'm sure the PS3 will end up even worse when you break it down like above, since their games list price are higher along with the console.
My 15 year old son has done nothing but bitch about control issues though. I think the issue, for him, is that he wants to use very gross movements to aim the gun and this takes the pipper out into the movement control zone rather than keeping it in the fire zone.
I'm pretty big on my movements too, and I've toned down the sensitivity to 'low'. I think my issue is partly leaving the 'screen' when moving, while, not entirely, as even small movements can make the pointer jump around or end up in a corner. I've even started over to do the 'fish tank' sight in, to make sure I didn't mess that up.
My sensor bar is at the foot of my TV, just in front of it, at the edge of the TV stand. I've read through the Wii manual on the sensor bar and such, but I wasn't sure if there was something I'm missing. I use to have the sensor bar at the top of my TV, but sitting on the floor, it wouldn't register due to the TV blocking any direct sight of the bar.
I'm inclined to believe this is a game thing since my 3 other titles work well. I'm just disappointed because Red Steel does have a lot to offer and can/could be a great FPS game, drumming up memories of the old GoldenEye on N64. However, if I try to point the 'dot' at a creep and instead it's flying all over the place as if my hands where shaking, it makes a 'twitch' game a lot less enjoyable.
The game is pretty easy (maybe made so, due to controller problems?), so I don't doubt I can beat it relatively quickly, I'm trying to decide if this will be a quick trade-in or not. The problem is, the story is pretty good, the level design is interesting (racing up stairs to stop cars leaving the parking garage, defending an office, etc), the graphics are good, and the AI is pretty good(guys running around to get behind me, ducking behind cover, etc. makes for enjoyable 1player shoot-outs.) but the controller problems are beyond frustrating. I guess I just want to find out there's something wrong with my sensor and not the game, because I want to enjoy it. hehe
Slashdot Mirror
WoW... Wikipedia release dates state...
It's weird to see the U.S. get such a later release date than EU and Aussies. Japan isn't that big of a surprise.
I didn't follow your train of thought 100%, but like the poster above me stated, Wii Sports and it's Basebase (bat) work really well for how close the bat mimics the remote.
As for your concerns of blocking and such, it's simple, just design the game mechanics to take this into effect. For example, if you're going to block with your lightsaber, then you hold the A+B buttons down, which will put the lightsaber into the 'block' position. As for the animation regarding this, they can chose to 'instantly' move the saber to your front or to animate it in a more slowly timed movement. 'Instantly' might sound kind of silly at first, but it's actually pretty common in game design.
Mortal Kombat does this. When you punch, your characters hand 'instantly' appears fully extended and then is animated to withdraw back into the character. This creates a different response feel for the fighting game such that your button press, and characters reaction felt more in-sync. They tried doing it with animation on the arm extension but it frustrated players because they felt like the control response was 'sluggish'.
So, anyway, LucasArts and their design team can decide how to 'make it work' to be the more enjoyable, but having to hold the saber in front of you or at a certain position to block, isn't necessary. In fact, most 'real' motions don't feel 'real' when translated into games. There's usually short cuts (like described above) that are used to 'enhance' the feel, otherwise, your game character just won't feel as 'epic' or 'heroic'.
Hmmm... re-reading your post, I understand your 'follow-through' thought now. From playing the Wii, there is 'some' relevance to this issue, but it's not noticeable given the fact that the remote isn't fully swing like a sword in most cases, but rather it's just a flick of your wrist. This means you can move the controller much faster than a swing, so you can reposition the remote for a follow up action. Likewise, as mentioned above, LucasArts can implement the game play to prevent such issues. Example, if sabers cross paths, then the 'block' sound happens and your follow through is impossible to inflict damage until the next full/semi-full swing. Think of it like this... it's no different than smashing the 'A' button in current games to swing your sword. You might have mashed that button 3 times but you've only did one swipe with your sword. It's not impossible, it just means that people should not expect a game where you can wildly swing your sword while you cover your eyes with the other hand and hope you can kill your opponent. =) Games work best when they limit the 'realism' into the game.
Cheers,
Fozzy
hehe, it's the first thing my older brother said (who was a kid when Star Wars burned it's story into his head). With the remote speaker, I can see the 'wooh wooh' of the lightsaber to be a great fit... now if they could just make the batteries last longer! =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
/ sex
Line starts over here --->
My crystal ball thinks it will have long-term viability. There is a lot of potential with this system. Yes, it's too bad that it's not more powerful, but I'm more than happy with the graphics of the games I play. Although, I won't deny that HD games don't make my jaw drop.
First, the Wii remote. It's a pointing device... it's practically a mouse. I already find punching in my name in a virtual keyboard to be a billion times faster than using a controller to scroll through the letters. But lets not go there, lets instead think of adding a wireless keyboard accessory. You now have the workings of 'computer like' interface. Real Time Strategy games (that often fail on Consoles) become much more viable and fun. You can quickly select your troops in the field by dragging out a selection box, much like computer games do. With a wireless keyboard accessory, chatting becomes easy, and a keyboard is easy to rest in your lap.
All Wii's have online support. You can already download games for the virtual console. It will take a while, but developers should be able to utilize the wireless to create online games. Now, companies, like Blizzard, can release Wii ports for their Warcraft and Starcraft strategy games (not WoW) which can find a whole new revenue path for games they've already made and just need to be ported (see low investment, high profits). The Wii is already planning on having a Weather and News channel, though I do not know how this will work, but it's interesting. I know they have plans to release a browser (I think it was Opera?).
This opens up the 'casual' games department for the Wii (which was just talked about here on /. about their profitability). People should/might be able to enjoy those Yahoo! and Flash games (if the browser can support Java and Flash plugins). I'm just waiting for a developer to create a simple, cheap, download-able 'virtual console'-ish game with network support.
It's simply the remote that I think will make this happen. The remote will work well as a pointer device, like a computer mouse, and allow game development to incorporate this idea and finally some of our favorite PC games might be as enjoyable from the couch. =)
Of course, that's already besides the 'traditional' games that are made as well as the potential for more unique game play using the motion sensing abilities.
Cheers,
Fozzy
ps. Nope, I'm not sure if this will all happen, but I just see the potential.
Two things...
First, no matter what method a government uses to increase recognition of bills, the blind will always be more susceptible to fraud than others simple because money, by design, requires 2 or more people to make it 'worth' anything. Money has to 'change hands'. An 'evil' cashier is just as likely to report the wrong price as a blind person is to hand over the wrong value that the 'evil' cashier is to return (on purpose) the wrong value.
Now, I worked as a cashier for a local grocery chain in High School. Cashiers can easily make mistakes, and commonly due at some point, where they, themselves return the wrong amount of change. For instances, I've bought beer at a bar with a $10 and received $12.50 back in change (plus the beer). The honest people, when they notice it, will point that out to the bar keep. But honest people night not notice it. They themselves will just grab the bills and stuff it into their pockets.
So, the point I'm trying to make is, problems with money 'recognition', so to speak, occurs naturally by 'human error', irrelevant of visual abilities. Transactions requires 2 people, if one is blind, they can still be fooled by the 2nd party or make a natural mistake themselves. Changing the size of money doesn't necessarily mean these issues will magically go away.
My second point would be simply... why not? Sure, there are always people resistant to change, but what good reason should the U.S. government not start making different sized money? Speaking from someone who's live a short time, as a student, in the London area, different sized money was barely noticeable by me. Which also makes me think, how much of a size difference is required for the blind to actually pickup the difference and to what are they comparing it with? "oh, I know this is a 5 note, and this bill is smaller so it must be a 1 note and this is larger, so it must be... either a 10, 20, 50, or 100 note".
Also, a radio station I listen too on my morning commute was talking about this and a caller explained that blind people are taught to fold their bills certain ways to understand their value and when they receive their money at a bank they ask the cashiers to fold it for them. Also, this called claimed that the majority of blind people have a guide who go with them to places to avoid problems.
Lastly, so a judge says that money is illegal... so, what should we do? Stop using money? Well, in America, that's not so hard, I've got a wallet of plastic I can choose from. =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
That would be my guess as well, and probably the most likely situation. I'd call Nintendo again and complain and write a letter (take photos for documentation). This time, since the box works, I'd request a new box be sent (brand new), and a shipping box to return the damaged box (it's physically damaged due to scratches). This way, you're not without a Wii for a period of time. I heard there was a problem with firmware for a large number of boxes (1% of a lot is still a lot).
Cheers,
Fozzy
I saw House of the Dead last one night when I was at my parents house. It was on one of the obscure movie stations. I read the digital synopsis of the film and was like "Oh, I didn't know they made a movie on this game, I use to like this game! I'll watch it!". The funny thing is, before I read the synopses, I thought it was some kind of late night softcore pr0n movie (a'la 'skin'amax) since the casting, acting, clothing, and plot all felt about on par. It was like a train wreck, I couldn't help but watch, hoping it will just get better... only it never did. Cheers, Fozzy
That is true. =)
Without Blu-Ray, PS3 would still cost about $600, only Sony wouldn't loose the rumored $300 a system they sell.
Though, they probably would have more stock, which would have helped their cause.
Cheers,
Fozzy
It could be worse... they could buy it from Target!
This sounds like a review for Red Steel. The controls are very difficult and even buggy to the point they jump around the screen. On moments of clarity (aka the crosshair not jumping), it was very easy to point it my enemy and headshot them. Due to this technicality, Red Steel feels like it WAS made easy. No matter how many bullets you take, if you hide for 5+ secs without damage, your life will refill to full... at any time. They also make ammo easy to come buy.
This console does change a lot. Just because one First Person Shooter game has a lousy control scheme, doesn't mean the whole interface is flawed. In fact, I'm actually surprised the by accuracy of it. On other games, like DBZ and Zelda, they give you cross hairs which can move across the screen effectively and accurately to my movements. Or so it seems.
The truth is, the system is still too now to judge it's interface on one poorly designed control system on one game. I can tell you, the Wii has really improved the DBZ fighting game experiance compared to the last 2 games and I look forward to what other creative developers come up with! I just hope that all FPS don't suffer the Red Steel issues or maybe Sofke will be right.
Cheers,
Fozzy
hehe, I mean that president Clinton defended his statement by saying he didn't feel oral sex was sex, so that's why he said what he did. Though, I cannot seem to find a link to this defense, so I might remember wrong and I was probably playing games at the time.
Absolutely! Such a system is ripe for abuse (and no doubt it would be). But would you not think twice of doing something "questionably wrong" if you could be punished for it? In the case of the graverobbers, I would say no. I doubt those guys knew the law was on their side when they decided to commit their (sort of) crime.
I guess the question I pose is, should the justice department of a government be able to punish you for doing something deemed (and clearly) wrong, even if there is no specific law on record for or against an action at that time? Lets say, if a jury of their peers, find them guilty of wrong doing beyond a reasonable doubt?
If I walked across the street, inside the crossing lines, and I was arrested, and tried for 'walking across the street' and found guilty by people of my society (assume fairly or without bias), should that be punishable if there was no law saying I could not walk across the street? What if I there is no law, but I knew that it was considered morally or socially wrong to walk across that street? How about if there is a law, but society thinks it's fine or normal to do it? Of course, this scenario involves no one but the accused. What if this action effects someone emotionally or physically? Through some sort of Voodo, walking across the street causes a cramp in the leg of a person in the house closest to the crossing? Or vise versa, such a crossing made someone healthier but was deemed illegal?
Cheers,
Fozzy
But what about the fact that, despite the entire community and legal system (judges, lawyers, police, citizens, etc) wanted to charge the people in this case with a serious crime, but could not. Would it not be a failing of 'law' to punish people for doing things that where deemed wrong by the community, without question or 'reasonable doubt'? I don't recall one person thinking there might be some 'reasonable' explanation for doing this gravedigging act.
True, but like this email case, this graverobbing case is similar in that there are plenty of laws on the books against unwanted sexual contact. Only, the laws are stated (or implied?) that the people are alive. There are also laws on the defacement of property, breaking and entering, etc. but none are specifically stated to include the situation described above. A dead person cannot say no. Digging a whole in someone else's ground is not a serious offense, despite what the person was going to do. You can throw the book at someone with a gun on his way to commit murder, but how do you charge someone with a shovel, digging a whole, to commit, what may or may not be a crime if there are no laws that saying specifically?
Should law interpretation be a reasonable power for judges? We know that this has been major issues in the past US elections with regards to the definition of marriage. I could argue for this in both ways and agree with it in both cases. Laws work best if there's black and white, it's the gray area that makes things difficult.
Cheers,
Fozzy
The thing I often find while I grow older is that terms and definitions are having less distinction as time goes one. What's the difference between a gamer and a hardcore gamer or even a casual gamer? You ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers.
One persons definition of a hardcore gamer might not be the same as someone else's. I could play WoW 2-3 hours a night and be called hardcore by a person who plays 5 hours a week and 'casual' by someone who plays 8 hours a day and 15 hours on weekends/holidays. Yet, one could define someone with the same term depending not on the criteria of time spent playing but activities done during play. A person who spends 2-3 hours in a raid to get loot could be called 'hardcore' while a person who continues to create new characters and plays them solo all the time, could be considered 'casual'.
I find this is happening on many levels outside of gaming. I was just having a discussion with my fiancee where we where arguing over the same agreement but wanted to call it two different things until we reached a decision to clarify our points by created specific terms to distinguish what we where talking about, since we could not argue points since we were not arguing over the same (but similar) things. Or I could point out former President Bill Clinton's argument that "he did not have sexual relations with that woman" because "sexual relations" was re-defined by him.
Anyone else notice this? This (seemingly) transcendence into generalization or the definition of terms to suit our own points?
Cheers,
Fozzy
lol, I'm not saying I don't believe you. I know how networks work well enough (web dev. here) and this isn't the first time I heard people having slow downloads. It felt really slow for me as well, and I'm still surprised how slow it does connect. I just was recounting that on the time I updated it worked fine (if waiting 5-10mins for the patch is fine), to help troubleshoot the fact this might be a 'WoW Tuesday' sort of thing (everyones updating their patch at the same time). I just feel bad for those who are having worse issues.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Hmmm... interesting politically moral question.
Do we do what's right with regards to justice?
Or do we do what's right with regards to (legal) policy?
I would side with the judge and say this law should include IM's and any electronic communication, VoIP, blogs (MySpace), etc. However, this does leave open the attack for a different case, where it's not as obvious or the crime is not as heinous, to be exploited in the same regards... think RIAA.
I think this is a situation where one has to weight the seriousness of the crime against the importance of the law.
This makes me think of the case in Wisconsin where 2 guys saw a picture in the newspaper of a 21 year old girl who recently died in an accident. They thought she looked pretty so they went and bought some condoms and dug up her grave. They where caught at the cemetery, before anything could come about, but since there were no laws on the book, they couldn't stick any charges to these guys.
This is a situation, again, where the law should be capable of proper punishment of these people and not just some petty crime because 'there was nothing on the books specifically'. In a perfect world, we would all agree and we wouldn't need written laws because we could just file things case by case, but that's just not realistic.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I've not had any problems with this WiiConnect24 bug. I'm not sure if I've updated this content yet.
However, the update on the night I used the Wii store was slow, but not that much. It took maybe 5mins to download the update. Perhaps that was before most people where doing their updates, but I didn't find it too bad. I can imagine it's just Nintendo's servers getting hammered all at once.
I do find that it does take a long time to just log-into the Wii store. About 30 seconds to just load the store, which seems really slow for some reason. Is there some sort of handshake protocol they're doing to increase the login time?
Cheers,
Fozzy
The power button is in the top left corner of the remote, which is really very far to reach with a finger and not close to other buttons. It's sunken, so the top of button is level with the controller so you have to press into the controller to activate it. You have to hold it down for like 3 seconds before it powers off. I'm not sure how it works with other controllers, or if only the 1st player controller and turn the system off. I do know that when I hold the button down, first the screen will say "controller 1 has been turned off, please turn on a controller". So, maybe other controllers that are still active will prevent the system from shutting down?
Cheers,
Fozzy
Technically, you cannot play any game simultaneously... well, unless I had 2 Wii's and 2 TV's next to each other. But, I get your point. However, it's not hard. I picked up...
So, it's not hard to get 4 games at launch. However, the only disappointment is Red Steel has buggy controls and it will probably be returned by me real soon, so I can pickup something else, which I'm thinking of Rachet or Second Opinion.
Why would I want a 2nd hand 512MB SD card? I'm not into the whole "I'll save $20 now but I'll have to spend $40 later" when I can spend $40 now and not have to buy anything later. I also don't want to have 3-4 512MB SD cards laying around because I've filled them all up, instead of having just 1 that stays in the machine. This way I can pickup a 2GB card, slap it in, and forget about it until I sell my Wii, or I download too many Virtual Console games, hehe. (which, btw, Nintendo has to be making a KILLING selling these things!) Also, from my quick comparison, 512MB cards go for about $20 new while 2GB (4x the storage) go for $40 (2x the cost). Second hand? I'm not sure where to even get one.
Maybe I'm not following you, but the online functionality works just fine. I've already shopped on the online store and bought Zelda the night I got my Wii. Not much choice out there, and there's no browser support yet, but there's still use. Also, on that note, I reserved the classical controller way back when and didn't realize they where attachments to the remote and not stand-alone, which kind of sucks.
On that note, no, I've not spent extensive time on all my games. I'm currently loving DBZ with the new controller scheme, but I have tried all my games. And like I said, they are also there due to having friends come over to game with. Come Thanksgiving, this will be very useful to play some fun games with my family and friends.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I agree, however...
I can say I sure hope it's not a 4 year life span! I could live with 6, where is the decline of the systems popularity due to a new system being launched... Unless said new system is 100% backwards compatible again, like the Wii, so I could trade in my Wii and keep the games I love.
Hmmm... this system is still very expensive for me...
$250 - console
$49.99 (4) - games
$39.99 (3) - Wii Remotes
$19.99 (1) - nunchuck (still trying to find 2 more)
$19.99 (2) - classic controller (still haven't arrived at our GameStop oddly enough)
$39.99 - 2gb SD card (Haven't ordered quite yet)
$20.00 - Wii Points (to purchase Zelda, and have a few floating around for an impulse purchase)
===
$660 - $740 (if you count the 2 Nunchucks and SD I still need/want to buy)
Of course, I also had this...
~$210 - trade-in for games
Still a lot of money. Though, I'm sure the PS3 will end up even worse when you break it down like above, since their games list price are higher along with the console.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I'm pretty big on my movements too, and I've toned down the sensitivity to 'low'. I think my issue is partly leaving the 'screen' when moving, while, not entirely, as even small movements can make the pointer jump around or end up in a corner. I've even started over to do the 'fish tank' sight in, to make sure I didn't mess that up.
My sensor bar is at the foot of my TV, just in front of it, at the edge of the TV stand. I've read through the Wii manual on the sensor bar and such, but I wasn't sure if there was something I'm missing. I use to have the sensor bar at the top of my TV, but sitting on the floor, it wouldn't register due to the TV blocking any direct sight of the bar.
I'm inclined to believe this is a game thing since my 3 other titles work well. I'm just disappointed because Red Steel does have a lot to offer and can/could be a great FPS game, drumming up memories of the old GoldenEye on N64. However, if I try to point the 'dot' at a creep and instead it's flying all over the place as if my hands where shaking, it makes a 'twitch' game a lot less enjoyable.
The game is pretty easy (maybe made so, due to controller problems?), so I don't doubt I can beat it relatively quickly, I'm trying to decide if this will be a quick trade-in or not. The problem is, the story is pretty good, the level design is interesting (racing up stairs to stop cars leaving the parking garage, defending an office, etc), the graphics are good, and the AI is pretty good(guys running around to get behind me, ducking behind cover, etc. makes for enjoyable 1player shoot-outs.) but the controller problems are beyond frustrating. I guess I just want to find out there's something wrong with my sensor and not the game, because I want to enjoy it. hehe
Cheers,
Fozzy