It seems like a gimmick to me, although I do find the historical anecdotes interesting. Puzzles appeal to the ego of those solving it, but may not actually test the appropriate skillset of the potential candidate. I can recall about a half a dozen TV shows and movies that had similar gimmicks for the hiring practices of their employees (e.g. "Men in Black"). Most of the time, it's a plot device to bring the "fish out of water" character into the fold. Then again, maybe that's entirely the point of the puzzle.
I've been seeing a lot of comments about "Hey, I read most of those books in High School! How can they be banned?" First of all, this is a list taken out of context... many of those books were taken out of libraries due to topics that are not controversial now, but were controversial a few decades ago. Depictions of euthanasia ("Of Mice and Men"), drug addiction ("To Kill a Mockingbird", "Brave New World"), sex (Lots of books on the list), even favorable depictions of non-Caucasian races ("Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") all would be cause to get a book banned. In hindsight, it seems silly, but every generation has its taboos. Just TRY to get a book approved about terrorism or school shootings in today's English curriculum. AIDS is okay to talk about now, but it wasn't 20 years ago.
It's a lot like Rock stars. They do a lot of publicity stunts and live a lifestyle that seems garish and offensive to the social conservatives of their time, but looking back in hindsight, most of the hype is just plain silly. Biting off the head of a bat? Ozzie, your domestic home life is much scarier than that; so is the fact that we find it entertaining to televise it.
Second, I have a sneaking suspicion that many of these books are chosen by high school English teachers in a misguided attempt to jazz up their curriculum. "Ooo, this was a banned book. That'll reach out to my jaded kids who barely can read a page a day, let alone a whole book." I don't think they realize how big the Cliff Notes market is, or how easy it is to rip off essays about banned books from the Wikipedia.
Well, the 4th edition of Shadowrun hasn't been given much exposure to the general gaming public, save for the rabid (and dwindling) core Shadowrun fanbase (the folks who remember what FASA stands for and such). A lot of folks have HEARD of Shadowrun and may even have played previous editions. However, I was at GenCon this year, and when SR4 won the 2006 ENnie for "Best Rules" (of all things), I heard a lot of "Huh... they made a 4th edition?" on the show floor and in the discussions at the bars.
Shadowrun may be given another "shot in the arm", so to speak, when the XBox 360 game comes out, even though the game is utter tripe (at least, based on that stupid trailer). Backpack hang-gliders on elves? Teleportation magic? Faceless middle-aged Caucasian conspiracy-related snipers? Orks that look even DUMBER than the ones in Warcraft? It may be a shot in the head, rather than a shot in the arm.
Later this month? It's been out for a year already, and you're just getting to it?
To be fair, the poster was probably talking within the context of GenCon, and SR4 (Shadowrun 4th Edition Core Rules) was just barely released last year at GenCon (limited number of copies, long waits in line, and a LOT of people didn't get one). Sure, you could have ordered it online or at a local gaming store, but they didn't receive the Core Rules book until several months later (which pissed off a lot of SR fans, not being able to get a hardcopy of the new Core Rules until, say, X-mas). A PDF has been available for purchase at DriveThruRPG.com for some time, though...
This year's offering from FanPro was the magic sourcebook for SR4, Street Magic. Basically, all of the homebrew Magic rules that folks had to retrofit from their current gaming group and books are in Street Magic. Not too exciting, but at least it's nice to have a canon source to work from, especially with spell creation rules and whatnot. There is also a substantial amount of brand new material, but most of it is an update of the old stuff into the new rules. Overall, a must-have book if you play SR4. Much more significant than Runner Havens, but that's my subjective opinion.
To reiterate, SR4 was first released last year at GenCon, and was followed by two sourcebooks over the course of this past year, Runner Havens and Street Magic.
where's World Of Warcraft? I wanna see how Blizzard makes it in the theaters. the in-game movies for Warcraft are astonishing but can they match in in the theaters?
Or any other movie based on a Blizzard game, for that matter. Maybe there is a Starcraft or Diablo movie out there that I'm not aware of (aside from that DVD in the collector's edition of Diablo II). Or maybe this is why Blizzard is such a big success: They don't license their precious video game titles to make stupid movies.
This probably just means that they are working on the next Dead Rising game, which is functionally identical to the first one, except for the fact that you can actually read the inappropriately Gothic-serif fonts.
What they need is some sort of motion sensor that detects when the case is jostled, so I can provide feedback to the program in the form of a swift steel-toed boot to the DVD-ROM/drink holder. That'll give it some "context".
In even MORE other news (see, the capitalized letters mean even more emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle), folks are posting mildly humorous statements to slashdot in order to garner more Karma.
Unless (as usual) the consumer doesn't understand all the techno-mumbo-jumbo behind it. If it was marketed toward geeks, sure, it wouldn't fly over well unless further stronger studies were done by impartial testing agents (good luck on that one). If it was marketed to middle managers who don't understand the true implications of wireless security, then hey, it's all good.
I noticed that the description for the Mahjong game (Ultimate Mahjong or some other such tripe) was pretty much a disclaimer for the actual game of Mahjong (the poker/rummy-like betting game with tiles), explaining that this particular game was actually the Solitaire-like game Shanghai, often called Mahjong because it happens to use Mahjong tiles. It's fascinating to me, anyway, since I love playing Mahjong.
As for the rest:
1) Add Tycoon to any game and you can make a quick buck.
2) Despite the kiddy games, the tripe and the obvious mega-selling franchises (Blizzard + Sim), several great games* made the list as well, which surprised me. Icewind Dale, Flight Simulator, etc.
3) Apparently Scooby Doo is a best-selling children's game franchise... I had not noticed.
* (reviewed well and subjectively liked by yours truly)
Their idea of a security update probably will amount to a flashy new star-shaped sticker over the rim of the case that says "Now with new tougher security action! 25% more secure than our previous model!"
Slashdot Mirror
It seems like a gimmick to me, although I do find the historical anecdotes interesting. Puzzles appeal to the ego of those solving it, but may not actually test the appropriate skillset of the potential candidate. I can recall about a half a dozen TV shows and movies that had similar gimmicks for the hiring practices of their employees (e.g. "Men in Black"). Most of the time, it's a plot device to bring the "fish out of water" character into the fold. Then again, maybe that's entirely the point of the puzzle.
I've been seeing a lot of comments about "Hey, I read most of those books in High School! How can they be banned?" First of all, this is a list taken out of context... many of those books were taken out of libraries due to topics that are not controversial now, but were controversial a few decades ago. Depictions of euthanasia ("Of Mice and Men"), drug addiction ("To Kill a Mockingbird", "Brave New World"), sex (Lots of books on the list), even favorable depictions of non-Caucasian races ("Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") all would be cause to get a book banned. In hindsight, it seems silly, but every generation has its taboos. Just TRY to get a book approved about terrorism or school shootings in today's English curriculum. AIDS is okay to talk about now, but it wasn't 20 years ago.
It's a lot like Rock stars. They do a lot of publicity stunts and live a lifestyle that seems garish and offensive to the social conservatives of their time, but looking back in hindsight, most of the hype is just plain silly. Biting off the head of a bat? Ozzie, your domestic home life is much scarier than that; so is the fact that we find it entertaining to televise it.
Second, I have a sneaking suspicion that many of these books are chosen by high school English teachers in a misguided attempt to jazz up their curriculum. "Ooo, this was a banned book. That'll reach out to my jaded kids who barely can read a page a day, let alone a whole book." I don't think they realize how big the Cliff Notes market is, or how easy it is to rip off essays about banned books from the Wikipedia.
Well, the 4th edition of Shadowrun hasn't been given much exposure to the general gaming public, save for the rabid (and dwindling) core Shadowrun fanbase (the folks who remember what FASA stands for and such). A lot of folks have HEARD of Shadowrun and may even have played previous editions. However, I was at GenCon this year, and when SR4 won the 2006 ENnie for "Best Rules" (of all things), I heard a lot of "Huh... they made a 4th edition?" on the show floor and in the discussions at the bars.
Shadowrun may be given another "shot in the arm", so to speak, when the XBox 360 game comes out, even though the game is utter tripe (at least, based on that stupid trailer). Backpack hang-gliders on elves? Teleportation magic? Faceless middle-aged Caucasian conspiracy-related snipers? Orks that look even DUMBER than the ones in Warcraft? It may be a shot in the head, rather than a shot in the arm.
Later this month? It's been out for a year already, and you're just getting to it?
To be fair, the poster was probably talking within the context of GenCon, and SR4 (Shadowrun 4th Edition Core Rules) was just barely released last year at GenCon (limited number of copies, long waits in line, and a LOT of people didn't get one). Sure, you could have ordered it online or at a local gaming store, but they didn't receive the Core Rules book until several months later (which pissed off a lot of SR fans, not being able to get a hardcopy of the new Core Rules until, say, X-mas). A PDF has been available for purchase at DriveThruRPG.com for some time, though...
This year's offering from FanPro was the magic sourcebook for SR4, Street Magic. Basically, all of the homebrew Magic rules that folks had to retrofit from their current gaming group and books are in Street Magic. Not too exciting, but at least it's nice to have a canon source to work from, especially with spell creation rules and whatnot. There is also a substantial amount of brand new material, but most of it is an update of the old stuff into the new rules. Overall, a must-have book if you play SR4. Much more significant than Runner Havens, but that's my subjective opinion.
To reiterate, SR4 was first released last year at GenCon, and was followed by two sourcebooks over the course of this past year, Runner Havens and Street Magic.
where's World Of Warcraft? I wanna see how Blizzard makes it in the theaters. the in-game movies for Warcraft are astonishing but can they match in in the theaters?
Or any other movie based on a Blizzard game, for that matter. Maybe there is a Starcraft or Diablo movie out there that I'm not aware of (aside from that DVD in the collector's edition of Diablo II). Or maybe this is why Blizzard is such a big success: They don't license their precious video game titles to make stupid movies.
This probably just means that they are working on the next Dead Rising game, which is functionally identical to the first one, except for the fact that you can actually read the inappropriately Gothic-serif fonts.
Hah! Or, it can simply reboot the laptop. You can call it "Etch a Sketch"!
What they need is some sort of motion sensor that detects when the case is jostled, so I can provide feedback to the program in the form of a swift steel-toed boot to the DVD-ROM/drink holder. That'll give it some "context".
In even MORE other news (see, the capitalized letters mean even more emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle), folks are posting mildly humorous statements to slashdot in order to garner more Karma.
It was pretty funny, though.
Unless (as usual) the consumer doesn't understand all the techno-mumbo-jumbo behind it. If it was marketed toward geeks, sure, it wouldn't fly over well unless further stronger studies were done by impartial testing agents (good luck on that one). If it was marketed to middle managers who don't understand the true implications of wireless security, then hey, it's all good.
I noticed that the description for the Mahjong game (Ultimate Mahjong or some other such tripe) was pretty much a disclaimer for the actual game of Mahjong (the poker/rummy-like betting game with tiles), explaining that this particular game was actually the Solitaire-like game Shanghai, often called Mahjong because it happens to use Mahjong tiles. It's fascinating to me, anyway, since I love playing Mahjong. As for the rest: 1) Add Tycoon to any game and you can make a quick buck. 2) Despite the kiddy games, the tripe and the obvious mega-selling franchises (Blizzard + Sim), several great games* made the list as well, which surprised me. Icewind Dale, Flight Simulator, etc. 3) Apparently Scooby Doo is a best-selling children's game franchise... I had not noticed. * (reviewed well and subjectively liked by yours truly)
Their idea of a security update probably will amount to a flashy new star-shaped sticker over the rim of the case that says "Now with new tougher security action! 25% more secure than our previous model!"