A remote-controlled pinball machine would be quite a feat--especially if you could play it online. Just give the online user access to the flaps and ball release. Maybe use air-pressure to release the ball instead of a spring (seems less likely to break over-time). Give the machine a web-cam and ask for donations to keep the project running...

Bamboo is such a ripp-off. Anything from Wacom is. Look for a local distributor who might have their own brand. I got a tablet two times larger with the same sensitivity for $30. I'd rather not say where lest I be confused as a spam bot.

SyFy is not basic. Therefore it is cable. You know: those premium channels that were lauded in their early days for higher production values, lower censorship regulations and zero ads (as you had to pay extra for them)?

Well the "spreadsheet" approach works--assuming there's enough variables. My DnD characters are on spreadsheets. But the odds of me finding the same or even a similiar character in any random group are slim to none. That being said: 4th edition characters tend to be more copy-and-paste due to higher restrictions on multiclassing, less feat trees, more restrictive prestige class options and less races/templates for PCs.
But what Video Games have thus-so-far almost always failed to do is make your character what your doing at the time. They make your character=your character's options during an encounter/dungeon. Its like saying Batman is Batman because he's always crazy-prepared...but in truth your arsenal and skills are only a small percentage of your [i]character[/i]. Your character is your background, personality, etc... and not just "how well you faire/what you use against obstacles in life.
Of course, its hard to establish a character in games where everyone does the same routine quests. At one point I tried to emerge myself in WoW towards the lower levels...but seeing people in chats asking for help with a quest I completed levels ago just made me lose any interest. "Kill this guy at this castle? I already did that. Whats the point if he's just coming back to life?"
Of course customized quests with long term and game-changing effects would require a staff devoted to a handful of characters. "GMs" in MMOs, as they are so inappropriately called, are really just bug-managers and moderators. They no more add to the flavor, story or immersiveness of a game than anything else.
And, of course, single-player games are trying to tell their story (or stories) and will inevitibly force you into the same plots that have been completed ages before you get your hands on the game (unless your a developer or beta tester who plays before the game ships).
In the end, playing Electronic RPGs is no better than playing a DnD group that only uses modules with a DM who hates improv.

That's a little unfair. When hunting what one would consider a "distraction from the task at hand" becomes an advantage. People with ADD/ADHD are simply able to focus more quickly on whatever piques their interest. Noticing a low-hanging branch or an easier prey or a sharp rock in the path i.e. sudden obstacles and potential opportunities in a world full of organized chaos that would be missed by those focused on just "getting that one animal". "Can't see the trees for the forest" is another way of putting it.

Another article with the word "Gaming"...another rant from a Tabletop Game Player/Amateur Designer.
The gaming world is straying too far from their roots. Meeting players/designers that openly mock tabletop gaming is becoming all too common. Video Games, especially RPGs (including MMOs, despite the lack of an RP element), take most of their core systems from Tabletop Games...from the 80s. With the exception of Dungeons & Dragons, which is just keeping itself classic for the sake of nostalgia, most tabletop RPGs have abandoned the "level" system ages ago. Few, if any, still use Hit Points. And Mana Points have gone the way of Vancian Casting. The next design company that takes from the modern non-Wizards of the Coast model of Tabletop Gaming without simply copying and pasting existing mediums is going to make a lot of money. Or is going to make Blizzard/Valve/etc... a lot of money when they take their stolen ideas and repackage it for the masses. Why a modern RPG still uses the level/class/HP/MP system is beyond me. Even life-bars are embarrassing at this point.

A high number of people playing a game doesn't make it important. It makes a popular. Diablo took an already popular formula and gave it an online port...with lots of advertising.

Not to sound like a dirty-commie-hippie, but Western medicine's "fix when its broken" approach is just not a sustainable practice. Its like doing no maintenance to your computer (i.e. defragging, deleting useless files, clearing your cache, etc...) until after it stops running--and then calling an expert to help you. Doctors need to solve lifestyle problems to prevent diseases and conditions before they happen. Naturally, a lot of things can't be prevented (random viruses and broken bones come to mind), but having a stronger immune system can still help the process after the fact.

If they really wanted to treat video games like an art they shouldn't have done an online poll. Aside from the most obvious problems (fanboys and people voting more than once), it makes it "the most popular video games of this list" instead of "the most interesting/innovative/artistic".
That being said: I'm very pleased with this list. There is some obvious blizzard fandom. Starcraft didn't really add much to the RTS genre other than revitalizing it with brilliant marketing and lots of nice bells and whistles. Diablo feels like Gauntlet, which wasn't on the list. I think TIE fighter should have beaten out Diablo given how it honestly added almost nothing to the gaming world (it was successful and good; just not precident-setting). Same with Goldeneye; if they wanted a precedent setting FPS they should have looked towards Half-Life or Quake for its mods--not that they aren't "Doom Clones".
Separating the categories by console with 4 games in each was just silly. There's plenty of more worthy games on the "PC" than the PS3--not surprising given there's hundreds of thousands of more games. Especially if they leave out consoles like Gameboy.
Seeing world of warcraft on a list without Ashnod's Call or Everquest is kinda weird. No dwarven fortress either.

At first I thought (albeit off topic for the normal Slashdot crowd) this was going to be about Puella Magicka Madoka getting a sequel. I know its considered one of the best (non-pornographic) adult anime of the last decade or so but seriously...

They have clothes, hands and things to hang ropes from. They could probably find ways in the factory to kill themselves. I'm sure enough of them use sharp instruments. Not to mention simply eating a few batteries.

You only have six points remaining on your license.

Although they claimed complete anonymity (and they were probably right since they were just measuring waves and not recording them), our local news-radio station was going on and on about how they were tracking traffic near Obama to check for non-disclosed road closures by tracking cell-phones--specifically finding areas where cellphones in roads suddenly stop and cluster.

Of course, not being around in 10 years doesn't mean you can't be profitable now if your prepared to drop everything once the market shifts. After all, they are losing almost a million per month...last February money around the lines of $50 million was offered for the company...

Once I saw this was wired (obviously), I started to wonder about the practicality of this (ignoring all the rights issues). I mean fairly common phones are one thing. But for those of us who buy the cheaper phones...usually they use fairly obscure power/data jacks (so they can charge us an arm and a leg for power cables when they break or get lost). It'd be quite annoying to carry about a few hundred different cables...