Grandpa
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Posts posted by Grandpa
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Hmm... with all this griping about Star Wars, ver 3.x, I wonder if it would be a good time to sell that laser disc version of the (unretouched by GL, ver 1.0) original Ep IV we picked up back in 1980? I could make a small fortune.......
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No one probably talked about it because no one wants to take seriously anything out of the "ordinary" from a collective group of people who frequently spot the Virgin Mary in lumps of cold refried beans or as a birthmark on a chicken's backside.
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Don't really care about that. Its the past and I am more converned about the present. Bush hasn't done jack here on the Domestic front so I am voting for Kerry.
Out of the frying pan and into another frying pan, if you ask me. I personally think Kerry will, if elected, turn out to be one of America's worst nightmares.
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Fair enough.
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What's to expand on? I think either of those candidates would make good presidents.
Hilary knows what she is doing, and for the most aprt I agree with her policies. And, she has done an ok job in NY.
Gore is just Gore. He's obviously got the WH experience and was a aprtner to one of the best presidents ever. Clinton must of saw soemthing in him to be stuck alongside him for 8 years. LOL
For one, the only reason Hilary is in NY is because she saw an easy mark in a popular locale. Defeat a candidate who would otherwise be defeated anyway, and do it in a state that gets a lot of attention just because it's NY, and viola! Political-career-freedom. She has no ties to NY, and no business represnting anyone in the state, but people were tired of her opponent's lack-luster performance. They'd have voted for a sock-puppet.
Two: Al Gore is a prefab politician. He spent his entire adult life training to be president. That does not make a good president, that makes a good politician. Debatable on that "good politician" bit, but I think you get what I mean.
Hilary might make a decent president, but we'll probably never know. Al would never be a good president. Despite all of the training he's received, he will always be a follower and not a leader. Does that mean I'm all crazy for the Reprocus...er...Republicans? No. Bush? No. So let's not turn this partisan.
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I know.. But tell that to like 50% of the USA..
Try 75%. It isn't an exact number, but I bet it reflects the truth a little closer.
Of course, if you're talking about just expanding to cover some African and Middle Eastern countries, and not a global empire, I wouldn't mind so much. Of course, I wouldn't like it, since I believe in our times we have better ways to achieve those things you mentioned. Empires cause too many bad things and I'd like for them to stay dead.Empires have never been dead. Since the Babylonians and Mesopotamians, there has been an empire somewhere. Including now. Some larger than others, some more benevolent than others. Now is no exception.
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The military does not want a draft. When I say military, I mean the field level commanders and senior enlisted.
Those people have a difficult enough time dealing with the "I joined for the college money..." crowd. They don't want to also have to deal with the whiney, demanding, coddled, not-me generation as well. (There are exceptions, but in the US they are the rule today).
The senior military does not want a draft either. The talk of a draft was started as a part of partisan politics leading up to this year's elections as a means to scare people. Scare people away from your rival type of speech. But what about the leaks to the press about talks in DC about initiating a draft? What about them? In an effort to touch all bases, whenever a major military action is being executed, they will talk about all possibilities, in anticipation of unexpected outcomes. They talked about a draft during the first gulf war as well. They talked about it again in the 90's when the US was running in and out if despot nations all over the place. They talked about it during this gulf war. They talk about it because they have to be ready for all contingencies. Let's say Iran gets a little restless tomorrow and drops a few dirty bombs on Iraq effectively wiping out over 100,000 US troops in a very short period of time. Then what? Then you might need to start up a draft, but not for normal troop rotation.
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Currently:
'04 Dodge Dakota
'03 Ford Expedition (This will be the last Ford I ever own)
Past (Chrono order descending):
'01 Ford ZX3
'98 Olds Silhouette (first and last minivan / Last GM product I'll ever own)
'91 VW Jetta (Deisel)
'89 Jeep Cherokee
'87 Ford Thunderbird
'90 Hyundai Sonata (first and last Korean car)
'88 Mercury Tracer
'76 Ford Pinto (Don't laugh, it had a V6 and did 0-60 in like 5 seconds.
And it didn't explode)
'76 Ford Mustang
'72 Chevy Impala
Got my eyes on:
VW GTi (For the oldest when she starts driving this year)
BMW X3 (for the wife)
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I hav today thought of perhaps another reason for the USA Xbox release in december and the international release in february.
The Xbox USA version gets released in december, in time for the christmas rush. This=Lots o Money
The international release is february. I happen 2 know that Star Wars Episode 3-Revenge of the Sith, is released in early 2005, which could be anywhere between January 1st and March 31st. With the hype over the movie, more people buy Star Wars game (inculding KOTOR2, which will be released around the same time). This=Lots more Money.
It makes sense dont it.
Revenge of the Sith comes out in May in North America, and I think a few weeks or a month later in the rest of the World.
Well if simultaneous movie release date crap is the ploy, then we might have to wait until May.....
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I hav today thought of perhaps another reason for the USA Xbox release in december and the international release in february.
The Xbox USA version gets released in december, in time for the christmas rush. This=Lots o Money
The international release is february. I happen 2 know that Star Wars Episode 3-Revenge of the Sith, is released in early 2005, which could be anywhere between January 1st and March 31st. With the hype over the movie, more people buy Star Wars game (inculding KOTOR2, which will be released around the same time). This=Lots more Money.
It makes sense dont it.
Perfect sense. Get one batch of sales at Xmas (with the Xbox version when consoles and console games are being bought by parents for their spawn at an alarming rate), then another batch (pc version) at some over hyped release party. (the kind that have become so nauseating in Hollywood in recent years)
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I really didn't want to wade through 24 pages on the other thread, so I went with what I had here, and the blurb on the Lucasarts site. (Sorry for the Atari mention before...my bad)
That all makes sense,though, what you said Adria.
But again, it's what I've said on many threads on the various boards here at Obsidian...money money money. Marketing makes money. Tell the people what they want to hear, etc, ect, etc.
I also believe that the devs felt that they could probably do it, just make the needed changes in the pc version once they got the code, but eyes can be bigger than stomaches sometimes.
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Everyone upset that they feel lied too and all need to step back and take a deeper look into this.
So, in reality, the PC version will come out about the exact time they initially said it, and the Xbox version, would. Problem is, that meant missing the biggest game sales time of the year...Christmas. So, they decided to give it a try to speed up production and shoot for releasing in time for the big sales rush.
The Xbox version requires less intensive coding, so speeding up the process is logically easier. The PC version has a lot more variables. Bugs might affect one screen res but not another, or appear on one vid card but not another, and the like. You either luck out and don't find any bugs, or most likely you do. These bugs require time to fix and test.
As was said earlier, I would rather have a bugless version that comes out a few months late than another Daikatana or ToEE.
And if you simply MUST feel lied to, try to think like this:
Xbox fans are going to get a game before it is really ready
...not PC fans are getting left out in the cold, again.
Think about it: We all know that M$ wants to take over the video game market. They want the Xbox (and its successors) to be the end-all to video gaming, even removing the pc from the equation. It stands to reason that in order to save face with the Xbox community, and potential Xbox community, they are willing to overlook things to get a game out on time or ahead of schedule. Even pay publishers to release a game before it is ready.
So, if you think of it in this light, what is actually happening is M$ is forcing the rush of a buggy piece of [expletive] to market before it is ready in order to satiate their target community. In the meanwhile, Obsidian and Atari are going to take the necessary time to make sure the PC version is ready to go when it is ready to ship. Now, doesn't that feel better? (No? Then I don't know what to tell you.)
Then again, if M$ is gerimandering the release dates, it is likely they are trying to boost Xbox sales. Around the holidays, people are more willing to spend the money on an Xbox just to play one game. So, hold the pc version, and more people will buy your flagship video game product in order to play the same game on the Xbox. Tricky marketing, eh, but also highly plausible, and very likely. After all, its all about how much money you can make, and an Xbox costs a lot more than a pc version of a video game.
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Oh...
And 46 + 2 IS a really cool TOOL tune.
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I don't know, Whitemithrandir. I understand what you're saying, but "known quantities" have been falsely relied upon in the past. Given the expanse of the universe, and the amount of time already experienced in this universe, can we really stamp the science you present as "Complete"?
Remember, the world was once flat. The brain was just a bit of fat in your skull. Etc, etc, etc. The "scientists" of those earlier eras were convinced that the questions presented were completely answered.
The nice thing about science is, when you discover something to be fact, there is actually a lot more that influence and affect that you have yet to figure out.
Look at Stephen Hawking. He had the entire scientific community convinced of his findings regarding, specifically, black holes and their affect on the universe. Years later, and after any nay-sayer would be riled as a loon for presenting an alternative, Hawking himself came out to say he he goofed on some of his calculations. Enough so to completely nullify all the research conducted by scientists working based on his research.
I guess what I am trying to get across is:
- We don't know everything there is to know yet. Relatively, we haven't scratched the surface yet.
- Science needs to keep an open mind.
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I have a few recommendations/comments/etc, though I'm no dev.
1. Not to offend...Lose the Tripod site. Nothing says 13 year old fan-boy wannabe like a freebie from Tripod. That and their popups/unders are flippin' annoying. For $7.95 a month (one year min in advance) you can get unlimited bandwidth, your own domain name, etc from a "real" web host. The one I have used in the past allowed for scripting in all of the latest formats you could hope to use on your site, and provided both FTP and HTTP up/down. And 30+ email accounts with your domain name.
2. To get your hands on a license (legally) for an existing engine could cost upwards of $1mil per. (Depending on the engine, it's age, and who owns it). Or you could develop you own, which requires time time and more time, and some semblence of skill. You may have that skill, I'm not saying you don't. I sure as heck don't, though....should have studied harder I guess... Some of the older ones are darn near free, but the tech is obviously a bit older. There is a conglomorate of amature developers somewhere on the net that provide a reasonably attractive engine for next to nothing, and they'll host demos and web sites for your game as well...all for a small piece of the pie. I forget what they're called, but it was only like a couple months ago I read about them in one of the rags and visited their web site. Some of the younf people there were making some pretty awesome games.
3. If you have the skills and the time, work for yourself. I know that many people would tell you to go to work as an intern and work your way up, and that's good for some people, but when you look at the list of names in the credits and realize you recognize one, maybe two names, you begin to realize just how many pawns there are in this (and any other) industry. The choice is yours. If it were me, and I was code monkey, I would give it a whirl in my off/spare time. The problem with doing such while working for a developer is that they can claim intellectual property rights to anything you create while in their employ; on or off duty. Can...not to mean they will, but the precedence is there, and it is usually written into your employment contract. (The wife is an HR manager with bucket loads of experience in contractual HR laws).
4. If you are going to go independant, then you will need to come up with something relatively new, or resurrect a once popular demon. The reason being is any D&D-esque title you create will be compared to the biggest titles of the time. A sort-of-like game would sit much better in the minds of the writers and reviewers, from what I've read of reviewers checking out independant houses. And come from no where. Example: Despite some nit-picking save issues, FarCry came out of nowhere with a sort-of-like format and knocked everyone's socks off. Reviewers were like "Crytek who??" Now look at them. Everyone wants to know what they've got planned next.
5. Never, ever, and I mean EVER let anyone tell you that "you can't" or "you will never be able to". If you want it to happen, and you put your mind to seeing it through, you can make just about anything happen. If it carries on for the rest of your working life, excellent, but if it doesn't you won't be sitting on your death bed years from now wishing you had tried.
And that's all my 2 cents on this anyway.
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"I hope so, Commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am."
"Uhhhhh.....had a slight weapons malfunction. But.....fine..... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine......How are you?"
"I want them alive. No disentegrations."
"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."
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This isn't the same old "I like to read, so how can I be a writer..." or "I'm an English major, how can I get a job there..." thread. Besides, I have no misconception that anything I write here will ever be taken as "example" for a future script writer job.
What I would like to know is strictly out of curiosity:
1. Generally: How do developers come up with a story? Is it otherwise assigned by the producer, or does the developer present the idea to the producer? (And when I say producer in this thread, I mean the big shots at Atari, et-al)
2. I realize that some creators have a vision of what they would like to accomplish, and maybe that said creation would be their "dream" project. But then again, they have to do what the producers ask in order to pay the bills. Is there ever a point where the developer tells the publisher to go back to his hole in the wall and shut up?
3. Who do you find to be the best writers in the gaming industry: Those with language or journalism degrees? Those who have written a book or two, or maybe a screen play (regardless of genre)? Or someone with a vision who can ply more than 2 words together and make the end result sound enticing?
The reason I ask the last question is that I have seen some of the minimum requirements for some of the writing positions with some developers, and there always seems to be a published-works background. But, to be honest, I have read some works from people who, but for the internet, are not published, nor have any formal college communications/writing training, but have some awesome pieces of fiction. (Short-short-story format as it may be). No, not me, I can write when I want to, but like I said, I have no misconception that I could write professionally.
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I'll add to this by asking for support for multi-button mice and trackballs. I have a 5-button trackball, but can only use 2 and the scroll wheel. I would like to be able to assign commands to the other three buttons.
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Maybe it has to do with how much code can fit on how many CD-ROMS? Expanding the explorable area would require more space on disk (install CDs).
If that alone is the fact, it only amplyfies my stand that it is time to migrate to DVD.
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I wish I was back in grade school again. Thnk of it..no real worries. No bills. Too bad you can never go back.
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1. Not only do my kids not know how to use a card catalog, but they don't know what one is, either.
2. I second the motion for game physics. I don't know how much of a sense of humor your professor has (given he/she is teaching quantum physics, probably not much), but working a theory about how a spell would affect the real-world if such a spell could actually be performed.
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USA.
[ducks under desk]
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I think this was answered before...and the answer was "no".
I don't think many developers would want to get involved with Linux anyway. Isn't the lawsuit from the SCO still going on? Not that I agree with any part of SCO's claims, but that could scare people away from developing for Linux at the moment.
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YAY!!! SCHOOL HAS STARTED!!!!
Can you tell I have teenagers????
Cooking Recipes
in Way Off-Topic
Posted
Do you mean
American Chinese food
European Chinese food
or
Chinese Chinese food?
There is a difference.