Posts by Section_Ei8ht

damn university computers with their linux operating systems and there lack of video players!

I like linux

yeah, but they forgot to mention what the $499 version would be lacking

Hooray for Sony. They arent doing anything innovative. The controller is a rip off of the Wii and the dashboard is a rip off of the 360.

Of course, this doesn't mean I wont pick one up when the price drops below $200

OMG thats hot!

Quote from Polaris

When did he say that?

he didn't

Quote from TFA

Answer: Well for the user the bottom line is just that it looks better. You wind up with something that has the diversity that you don’t get with more conventional terrain generation systems out there. As the developer, looks are still important for games. If you look at a game and you make it look better, it’s a better game, so long as you don’t impact the gameplay negatively. So it’s nothing profound and fundamental, it’s just one tiny little aspect of graphics rendering that’s just better now.

Quote from Defrag

As long as this fits into the game asset creation pipeline(s) in an elegant fashion, it could prove to be very cool.

Don't think it will be that much of a problem. Asset creation with id tech has always been a breeze. I'm sure anyone who has worked with the Doom 3 engine can back me up on that.

http://gamesfirst.com/?id=1280

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Jack Thompson Seeks Talk Show Appearances Over Oblivion Re-rate:Occasionally we receive a press release that's just too good to not publish, but this is the first time we've ever received one from a representative of Jack Thompson.

Probably because GamesFirst operates GamesFirst TV out of Buffalo, we received an e-mail this morning announcing Jack Thompson's availability for Talk Show interviews in regards to the Oblivion re-rating.

Normally we would just ignore this e-mail. However, reading over the details of the "talk show guest" offer, we couldn't help but notice some huge errors in their statements. You want to know why the mainstream media keeps getting the details all mixed up over issues like Hot Coffee? It's because of press releases like this.

It includes this sort of thing:

"This is not a modification or "mod" of the game by gamers. It is an unlocking of content that was put there by Take-Two with the unlocking code provided by the developer!"

If you're up for a laugh, or maybe just being a little pissed off, take a look at this press release. Any news agency willing to accept a guest speaker based on this information needs to reconsider their methods.

The Press Release:

"Last summer the video game industry was rocked by revelations that Take-Two Interactive, the makers of the hyper-violent Grand Theft Auto games, had illegally embedded in GTA: San Andreas graphic interactive adult sexual material. Take-Two lied and said it didn't do it.

The undersigned then prepped Senator Clinton for her "Hot Coffee" press conference, and all Heck broke loose. The House of Representatives voted 355-21 in asking the Federal Trade Commission to whack Take-Two for the fraud.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ordered a recall of all of the Mature-rated GTA: SA games, slapping an Adults-Only rating on it. The fraud cost Take-Two, conservatively, $50 million, which loss has resulted in class action shareholder lawsuits because of a plunge in Take-Two stock value.

You would think Take-Two would have learned its lesson, right? Wrong.

Its popular and newly released Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has now been re-rated "Mature" and recalled by the ESRB because Take-Two and its co-publisher have been caught embedding nude figures and scenes in the game which can be unlocked with a code provided by the developer. This is not a modification or "mod" of the game by gamers. It is an unlocking of content that was put there by Take-Two with the unlocking code provided by the developer!

Expert guest, attorney Jack Thompson (and author of Out of Harm's Way, an expose on violent video games) is available to be your Talk Show interview guest to discuss this new scandal that has just exploded. During your interview, jack explains that this game is an even worse disaster than last year's' "Hot Coffee" scandal in that it has resulted in the re-rating of a "Teen" rated game that kids of all ages have already bought and secondly because it shows that the Take-Two and the ESRB and the industry as a whole learned absolutely nothing from last year's scandal.

Specifically, the ESRB has now admitted that it rated this game "Teen" without even reviewing the entire game, unlike the movie industry rating system that is based upon a movie seen in its entirety. The ESRB, which is supposed to be the guardian of kids, simply didn't even try to do its job.

The ESRB, once again, has been caught with its pants down. What Senator Clinton said last year, with the undersigned's help, is now more true than ever: "The entire video game rating system is broken."

It is also clear that Take-Two corporately and its senior officers, including CEO Paul Eibeler, individually, must now be prosecuted criminally for the knowing distribution of "sexual material harmful to minors" which is a felony in most states and nationally. The undersigned intends to work toward that end immediately.

Thompson, a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, where he was a classmate of former Vice President Al Gore, shares with your audience how violent videos have a brain-altering effect that can lead to deadly results. During your interview, Thompson also gives antidotes from his new book, "Out of Harm's Way" (Tyndale House Publishers).

In Jack Thompson's new book, Out of Harm's Way, Jack puts the powerful video gaming industry in his cross hairs. Pointing to medical, scientific, and law enforcement evidence, the author shows how unhealthy and dangerous this popular "entertainment" has become-and how violent video games have been linked to the increase in school shootings. Lest the video gaming industry think Thompson is not capable of opposing their powerful stranglehold on the entertainment business, his history strongly suggests otherwise.

In Thompson's engrossing memoir-an account of a modern-day David's battle against the entertainment business, there is a much needed call to arms. Writing as one who has been at the front lines of the culture war for the past two decades, often standing right in the line of fire, Thompson explains the moral, legal, ethical, and racial implications of this battle and why it is vital that parents-and anyone else concerned about the health, safety, and well-being of children-understand it-and join the battle to stop violent video games-dead in their tracks.

VIDEO GAMES TARGETED BY JACK THOMPSON:

All the Grand Theft Auto games

The Warriors

Halo 2

Blitz: The League (Jack was on Anderson Cooper 360 about this game)

Brothers in Arms

Earned in Blood 50 Cent

Bulletproof True Crime

New York City Bully (not yet out)

25 to Life (not yet out)

ABOUT JACK THOMPSON...

A 1976 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, where he was a classmate of Al Gore, Jack Thompson is a former "hands-off-business libertarian" and "First Amendment absolutist" who subsequently became convinced that the entertainment industry must be forced into taking responsibility for the brain-altering and deadly results of the violence and indecency it is spewing into millions of homes, families, and minds.

An attorney specializing in litigation against the entertainment industry since 1987, he has been interviewed for hundreds of radio and TV programs about the link between violent video games and teen violence. His legal successes include: securing the first FCC decency fines (1989); securing the first verdict that a sound recording is obscene (2 Live Crew case in 1990); forced Time Warner to pull rapper Ice-T's "Cop Killer" from store shelves worldwide (1992); and received ACLU's "Top Ten Censors of the Year Award" (1992).

Recently, Thompson has represented parents of three girls shot at a school in Paducah, Ky., by a 14-year-old video gamer. He also got shock jock Howard Stern kicked off all Clear Channel radio stations and Clear Channel fined $495,000 for illegal indecent broadcasts. He also successfully predicted a "Columbine-type" incident on national television one week before it occurred, and he also predicted that the DC Beltway Sniper triggerman would be "trained on a sniper video game."

A frequent speaker on college campuses, Thompson lives with his family in south Florida where he is a lay leader in his Presbyterian church.

Suggested Interview Questions for Jack Thompson, author of "Out of Harm's Way":

Jack on Video Games:

* Do you really believe violent games lead to violence? What proof do you have?

* Can video games really permanently alter a persons brain?

* Isn't this really just a parent's responsibility, not the government's?

* Are you opposed to all video games or just some?

* Tell me one story that would be most likely to cause a listener to share your concern that video games cause violent behaviors?

* What is the solution to the play of so many violent games by kids?

* Are violent games really being sold to minors?

* Didn't you play cops and robbers as a kid?

* Are all violent games bad or just some?

* Do you think we're going to see more laws against the sales of violent games?

* Is this a Republican issue or a Democratic issue?

* Aren't Republicans supposed to be opposed to more government regulating our lives?

* Where does your regulation end? Aren't you putting us on a slipper slope of censorship?

* What are some of the video game companies that you believe are acting irresponsibly?"

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Is there anything even left to discuss?

thrik wins the thread.

Found this Q&A with Carmack talking about MegaTexturing, his latest thing that he did for Quake Wars.

http://www.gamerwithin.com/?view=articl ... 1319&cat=2

From my understanding MegaTexturing is an efficient way to put a 32000x32000 texture on a terrain without the need for 4 gigs of video ram.

Sounds like right now its only being applied to terrain, but I think there will soon be an implementation that uses a texture for all geometry in the map, so there is no repetition of textures. But then again, maybe that would be kinda pointless because no one would notice and it would just be a waste of time for a developer to make a 300ft long brick wall that is not a repeating texture.

Don't know. Sounds cool. What do you all think?

Mazda 3, hell of a car. Almost picked one up myself, but then realized i still needed to go to college.

kitteh picture ftw.

I think I need to change my background. I'm starting to get very freaked out whenever I look at my monitor after just waking up.

[Blocked Image: http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2640/desktop3jy.jpg]

As reno said, no point in showing my other monitor, its the same thing but with winamp at the top.

me likes!

http://www.mapcore.net/forums/index.php?c=15

I'm sure Craig can pull it off. Hasn't been a good Bond movie since Goldeneye. Looks like classic Bond! Promising.

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Parents across the country depend on ESRB ratings every day to make sensible choices about the games they bring home for their families

no. In most cases they buy whatever their bratty little bastards nag them to buy, and then get all pissed when they find out its "bad". I'm not saying all, I'm saying most.

And horses have assholes. If a kid can go to a petting zoo and look at a pony's asshole, why can't he play a videogame and look at a pony's asshole? (in theory, although I'm sure there are some kids out there with pony asshole fetishes [cough]mino[/cough])

Quote from skdr

I don't want to sound like asshole but those website graphics are totally "noob'ish" to be honest. Ugly filters and colors etc.Content itself is pretty good, professional work etc. But the site design is far from professional.

I didnt want to say it, but he's right, you know. Should check out Klein's article on portfolio web design if you havent already.

[edit]typos

why would you put a fixed size iframe on a page that's larger than the average user screen height? It's quite annoying to have two different scroll bars when one of them is useless.

nice!

Just bought it, currently pre-loading it. I hope this whole episodic content actually is filled with $17 worth of gameplay each episode, but as long as I have fun in the end, I guess I dont really care.

Programmer. More specificly the rendering engine programming. The programming workflow comes easier to me than the artistic workflow. Rendering engine programming because it combines my love of making art (images) and my love of programming.

Can't wait for my Computer Graphics programming course next semester

Quote from hydeph

ya well i find u offensive, plz go back to your war torn country and die in crossfire

Wow, for once, I actually agree with you, hydeph.

Yet another article on the name change. Talks about it being more of a PR stunt than anything. Found it via slashdot: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?si ... 2&from=rss

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A Wii bit more attention for Nintendo

Aaron McKenna

April 29, 2006 15:25

Branding explains itself, when it's done well. When it's not, consumers simply won't listen to anything else, choosing to mock you rather than take heed.

When Nintendo announced that the perfectly serviceable name of its upcoming console, the "Revolution," is to be changed to "Wii," many on the Internet at first thought it a bit of a joke - one of those pranks that starts in a blog, and ends up having spread to every tech news organization on the globe before it can be stopped.

Apparently not, and now Wii is the new Revolution, more of a whimper than a bang. At first, I too joined in the parade of, shall we say, piddling jokes about the Wii. Sure, it's pronounced "we," but with that extra "i" in there it looks more like "wee." Granted, some are saying "Wii" is controversial mainly in the English-speaking world (the Japanese can't even pronounce it); in France, for instance, it's a homonym for oui (yes).

But the upcoming E3 Expo plays mostly to an English-speaking crowd, even though it's an international event. And even from an international perspective, Nintendo's choice seems a tad stupid: Although the name "Revolution" may be a codename, so was "Tank;" and as in that case, once a name gains currency, why change it? Even if Nintendo had chosen something poetic, smelling of roses or laced with lyricism, the move would be seen as something of a faux pas.

Nintendo explained the name change with more than a modicum of bull about how it highlights the inclusive nature of the console ("we" as in "us"), and also how the logo for the term itself recalls the innovative shape of its new controller...once you remove the "i." Quite apart from the fact that this sounds like a hastily thought up excuse for having done something naughty by a bunch of school kids, there is also the unsettling realization that Nintendo felt it had to explain all this up front in the first place.

Think of "Xbox," "PlayStation," "Dreamcast"...heck, think of "Revolution." Nobody had to explain these terms to anyone, even though technically the Xbox could just as easily have been a funny type of packaging. The moment you have to begin to explain your branding in pedantic detail - which Nintendo is doing through both its spokespeople and its promotional material - you're screwed. If you're going to make your customers stop and think, it should be for a clever reason. Sony, for instance, made waves with its PlayStation Portable advertising, with phrases like, "Your girlfriends white bits here;" and although it made everyone scratch their heads, that was half the point.

On the other hand, this is the point of the discussion where I start to ponder, suppose Nintendo is smarter than all of us. It's just over a week to E3, where Sony fans will be all giddy and running around like they have a Blu-ray chasing their tails. Amid all this, Nintendo announces a name change which is not only interesting, but controversial. You can't not notice it. Essentially, Nintendo steals more than a wee bit of Sony's thunder. Then, post-E3, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo steals it back again, saying either, "It was all a big laugh..." or, in a more straight-faced manner, "We've listened to customer feedback..." and change the name back to Revolution. All right, so that's one of those "grassy knoll" conspiracy theories, but they'd get double their monies worth and finish up with more attention than what they started with, so I'd do it.

However stupid the name might be, this stupidity is generating a huge amount of PR for a brand that was fading into non-existence prior to now. Tell me, who had the "Revolution" on the top of their go-to list at E3, at this time last week?

As Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." So, the Nintendo Wii: Crazy on the outside, ultimately self-defeating in the end? Maybe, but we're talking about it now, aren't we?

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