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Games

Dead Space Highlights Disparity Between Plot and Gameplay 87

Posted by Soulskill from the this-is-bob-see-bob-kill-aliens dept.
Gamasutra is running an opinion piece praising recent horror-action game Dead Space for its pacing and gameplay while simultaneously criticizing the plot and the attempts to scare the player. Quoting: "What Dead Space is, is carefully and stylishly unoriginal. You'll love playing it, but when you aren't playing it, it's hard to say what's so great about it. It has some really great set pieces, some sweet effects, solid gameplay, an amazing interface and that's all. Anything and everything having to do with dialogue and story comes off as rote. ... You get the feeling the developer are trying very hard, though. When I see a dark shape in the distance, which turns and disappears, I don't get scared. I know he'll pop out of a vent later! Likewise, when I find a scientist who promptly slits her throat because of the horror, I just check for an item drop. None of the survivors ever surprise you and go hostile (which I think would have been a brilliant scare), so you never have to worry."
Space

Submission + - Voyager 2 finds solar system's shape is 'dented' (reuters.com)

Submitted by
Selikoff
Selikoff writes: "NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has found that our solar system is not round but is "dented" by the local interstellar magnetic field of deep space, space experts said on Monday. The data was gathered by the craft on its 30-year journey into the edge of the solar system when it crossed into a sweeping region called the termination shock, they said. It showed that the southern hemisphere of the solar system's heliosphere is being pushed in or "dented." Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter this region of the solar system behind Voyager 1, which entered the northern region of the heliosheath in December 2004."
Software

Submission + - Flickr images used to build 3D models of the world 1

Submitted by
willatnewscientist
willatnewscientist writes: "Scientists at TU Darmstadt in Germany and the University of Washington in the US have developed software that analyzes images of famous landmarks on photo-sharing websites like Flickr and uses them to build a 3D model of the structure. The researchers found the software to be as accurate as using laser range finding in many instances — an 3D model of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is shown in an image and video. "The system provides an opportunity to use the billions of user-contributed images available online to 'reconstruct the world' without relying on specialised equipment," says researcher Michael Goesele."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft finally bows to EU antitrust measures

Submitted by Rogue Pat
Rogue Pat writes: From the Reuters press article: "Microsoft ended three years of resistance on Monday and finally agreed to comply with a landmark 2004 antitrust decision by the European Commission."

From other news sources: Competitors will be able to buy interface protocols for 10.000 Euro to make their software work better with Windows. Moreover, Microsoft won't appeal the 500 million Euro fine any further.
Data Storage

Submission + - Is Canada Following the USA or Britain on this?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It looks like Toronto is trying to become Canada's #1 filming location.

City News reports that, "almost every person using Toronto's transit system will be photographed" because the TTC will be adding a nice little camera in ever bus, subway car, streetcar and sub-way station that they have.

Of course they claim that they will only release the video and audio in the event that an event occurs. Are we going to extend this to hospitals, police stations, government access centers, libraries, public parks and sidewalks as well?

I'm totally against having public service companies do this to us — even for the reasons and under the conditions they are presenting them. I think that once the infrastucture and public acceptance that these devices are there is when the corruption starts. When will some elected body twist around the reasoning or the laws to do more with the devices?

A Slashot Poll would be nice but — What is the general public view on these things?
Communications

Submission + - Will the iPhone be too expensive for UK consumers?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: CNet.co.uk is running an article that compares the O2 iPhone plan to other similarly priced non-iPhone plans. Interestingly, all of the plans, which include unlimited data too, offer more minutes and text messages for much less money than the iPhone deal, and a free handset. Will this price difference annoy people enough to opt out of buying an iPhone or will the allure of owning a tech pop star prove too strong?
Editorial

Submission + - "Evolution Is Not Science" Says A Non-Chr (functionalisminaction.com)

Submitted by
IConrad01
IConrad01 writes: "Funcionalism In Action: "Evolution Is Not Science" — Why It Doesn't Take Time-Travel To Prove That Idea Wrong is a commentary, based on a recent conversation by the author, myself, on why the current state of scientific comprehension in society is proof that we are headed down a very dangerous route. I also include a proof/brief of current evolutionary theory — in all its morphological glory."
Google

Submission + - Google Joins the Open Invention Network (openinventionnetwork.com)

Submitted by
apokryphos
apokryphos writes: "The Open Invention Network (OIN), the intellectual property company founded by IBM, Novell, Red Hat etc. to promote the Linux system, have released a press release announcing that Google have become its first end-user licensee. "Linux plays a vital role at Google, and we're strongly committed to supporting the Linux developer community," said Chris DiBona, Google open source programs manager.

"Patents owned by Open Invention Network are available royalty-free to any company, institution or individual that agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux System. This enables companies to continue to make significant corporate and capital expenditure investments in Linux — helping to fuel economic growth.""
Programming

Submission + - Best IDE for C++? 2

Submitted by chibe
chibe writes: I'm currently making my first steps in C++ and was wondering what IDE the C++ speaking part of the slashdot reader community would recommend. Asking C++ programmer friends resulted in a wide range of answers from "emacs forever" to "Anjuta rocks", so I'm not expecting to to find the ultimate answer here, but would like to get a feeling for what's on the market. So what are the strengths and weaknesses of your favourite IDE?
KDE

Submission + - KDE 4.0 Beta 1 Released 1

Submitted by
mernil
mernil writes: "The KDE Community is happy to announce the immediate availability of the first Beta release for KDE 4.0. This release marks the beginning of the integration process which will bring the powerful new technologies included in the now frozen KDE 4 libraries to the applications."
Editorial

Submission + - Anyone Doubt There's an Illuminati New World Order (mondovista.com)

Submitted by
ericdubay
ericdubay writes: "Does Anyone Doubt There's a New World Order / Illuminati Conspiracy?

—

George W. Bush told us after September 11th that we "mustn't tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories." Anxious to be intolerant of something new, I thought I'd look into these outrageous claims. FOX News even suggested taking some time to peruse the internet's fine "cess-pool of conspiracy theories," so that's what I did. However, what I found was a vast library of factual information following the movements of a very real conspiracy. The conspiracy is for world governance under the United Nations. The conspirators are a cabal of international bankers, businessmen, politicians, media personalities, Illuminati families, and secret society elites.

While this may surprise many and be simply unbelievable to others, that is because there has been a concerted effort, an info-war if you will, to keep the general population in willful ignorance regarding "outrageous conspiracy theories." Branding this area of research as "theory" propagates it to the masses as unreliable and unimportant. However, just a tiny amount of investigation into subjects such as the JFK assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 or 7/7 show a massive amount of evidence against the "official" stories. I urge every one of you to perform your own research into the Illuminati and New World Order. Read the decades of thorough investigation into these subjects and learn why these "conspiracy nuts" are so adamant about their "outrageous theories." You might just find out what all the buzz is about.

"It was not my intention to doubt that the doctrines of the Illuminati had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more fully satisfied of this fact than I am." -George Washington, 1782

"The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes." -Benjamin Disraeli, 1844

"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the Field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." -Woodrow Wilson, 1913

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson, 1916

"From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, to those of Trotsky, Bela Kun, Rosa Luxembourg, and Emma Goldman, this world wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played a definitely recognizable role in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the nineteenth century, and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads, and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire." -Winston Churchill, 1920

"The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses. This little coterie run our government for their own selfish ends. It operates under cover of a self-created screen, seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection." -N.Y. Mayor, John Hylan, 1922

"The real truth of the matter is that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government since the days of Andrew Jackson" -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933

"Today the path to total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people... outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government, a bureaucratic elite which believes our Constitution is outmoded and is sure that it is the winning side. All the strange developments in the foreign policy agreements may be traced to this group who are going to make us over to suit their pleasure. This political action group has its own local political support organizations, its own pressure groups, its own vested interests, its foothold within our government, and its own propaganda apparatus." -Senator William Jenner, 1954

"The invisible Money Power is working to control and enslave mankind. It financed Communism, Fascism, Marxism, Zionism, Socialism. All of these are directed to making the United States a member of a World Government." -American Mercury Magazine, 1957

"The most powerful clique in these (CFR) groups have one objective in common: they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and the national independence of the U.S. They want to end national boundaries and racial and ethnic loyalties supposedly to increase business and ensure world peace. What they strive for would inevitably lead to dictatorship and loss of freedoms by the people. The CFR was founded for "the purpose of promoting disarmament and submergence of U.S. sovereignty and national independence into an all-powerful one-world government." -Harpers, July l958

"The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society, and we are as a people, inherently and historically, oppossed to secret societies, secret oaths, and secret proceedings. For we are oppossed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence. It depends on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly effecient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published, its mistakes are buried, not headlined, its dissenters are silenced, not praised, no expendature is questioned, no secret is revealed... I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. -JFK, 1961

"The Trilateral Commission is intended to be the vehicle for multinational consolidation of the commercial and banking interests by seizing control of the political government of the United States. The Trilateral Commission represents a skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power political, monetary, intellectual and ecclesiastical. What the Trilateral Commission intends is to create a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nationstates involved. As managers and creators of the system ,they will rule the future." -U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, l964

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds' central banks which were themselves private corporations. The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups." -Professor Carroll Quigley, 1966

"The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control.... Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent." -Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets

"We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." -David Rockefeller, 1991 Trilateral Commission meeting

"George Bush has been surrounding himself with people who believe in one-world government. They believe that the Soviet system and the American system are converging. The vehicle to bring this about, is the United Nations, the majority of whose 166 member states are socialist, atheist, and anti-American." -U.S. Ambassador David Funderburk, 1991

"It is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance." -George Bush, 1992

"[The New World Order] cannot happen without U.S. participation, as we are the most significant single component. Yes, there will be a New World Order, and it will force the United States to change it's perceptions." -Henry Kissinger, 1994

"Some even believe we (Rockefeller family) are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." -David Rockefeller, 2002 Autobiography

Educate yourself and awaken the sheeple around you. World Governments have been hijacked by a cabal of globalists bent on one world government, world bank, world currency, world military, and a micro-chipped population under the United Nations. These people have many fronts which you all MUST RESEARCH including: the Bilderberg group, the Committee of 300, the Trilateral Commission, the Bohemian Grove, the Council on Foreign Relations, Skull and Bones Society, the Free Masons, the Council of 13, the Committee of 33, the Knights of Malta, the Illuminati, and the New World Order.

Visit my website for documentaries, slideshows, pictures, more quotes, links, and info about the New World Order: www.myspace.com/sheeplerevolt"

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