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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?

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