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Comment Re:PvP balancing (Score 1) 86

Guild Wars tried the same thing, and now they've decided to just split pvp/pve skills for all the 'powerful ones'. The problem with balancing PVP over PVE is because, guess what, the same powerful characters in PvP typically does well in PvE as well. People tend to gravitate towards the 'best' and most overpowered build, and if its nerfed in PvP, you can bet that the PvE players will complain. I guess the people working for GW got tired of it and finally decided to make 2 versions of each skill to maintain PvP balance yet PvE overpoweredness.
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Loses Bid To Keep Revenues Secret (blogspot.com) 1

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's motion to keep secret the record companies' 1999-to-date revenues for the copyrighted song files at the heart of the case has been denied, in the Boston case scheduled for trial July 27th, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum. The Judge had previously ordered the plaintiff record companies to produce a summary of the 1999-to-date revenues for the recordings, broken down into physical and digital sales. On the day the summary was due to be produced, instead of producing it, they produced a 'protective order motion' asking the Judge to rule that the information would have to be kept secret. The Judge rejected that motion : 'the Court does not comprehend how disclosure would impair the Plaintiffs' competitive business prospects when three of the four biggest record labels in the world — Warner Bros. Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and UMG Recording, Inc. — are participating jointly in this lawsuit and, presumably, would have joint access to this information.'"
Software

Submission + - The Amazing World of Software Version Numbers (technologizer.com)

Harry writes: "In theory, software version numbers should be incredibly mundane. In reality, companies have long twisted them for marketing purposes, avoided ones they didn't like, and even replaced them with things other than numbers. I've prepared a tribute to them with some facts and ruminations, but there's a lot I don't know, and I'd appreciate help on the historical side of things. (Anyone know when the standard decimal point-based system came into use?)"
Google

Submission + - Google Voice Offering Invites

kevind23 writes: "I checked my email this evening to find that Google Voice, which has caught the attention of Slashdot several times, is now offering free registrations on an invite-only basis. Unfortunately, unlike Gmail, current users cannot send invitations to their friends (or other interested parties). Google Voice is currently available in the United States, with free domestic calling and SMS, as well as cheap international rates."
Classic Games (Games)

Submission + - MechWarrior to be Distributed Free on BattleTech.c (mektek.net)

Vamman writes: "In light of the recent announcement of the new Mechwarrior Game. Smith and Tinker has granted our online dev team MekTek.net (which has been supporting Mechwarrior for almost a decade now) permission to release Mechwarrior4 entirely for free using the same type of distribution model that id Games used for Quake3's free release.

"In honor of BattleTech's 25th anniversary, Smith and Tinker has authorized MekTek.net and MekTek Studios to distribute MechWarrior 4 (along with its expansion packs) completely free. For years, MekTek.net has been the central point for online distribution of MechWarrior 4 expansion packs. Now they can provide the core game free to the fans as well. Keep an eye on BattleTech.com — the free download will be available soon!""

United States

Submission + - SPAM: US offering $45M for huge wind energy test bed

coondoggie writes: "On a day when one of the largest wind farm plans bit the dust, the US Department of Energy is offering up a five-year, $45 million grant to design and build a large dynamometer facility for testing 5 to 15 MW rated wind turbines and equipment. The DOE says such a facility is needed as the US has fallen behind other countries in the race to build ever-larger wind turbines for energy production. According to the DOE, the average size of wind turbines installed in the United States in 2007 increased to roughly 1.65 MW. Additionally, turbines already developed range in the 2.5 MW to 3.5 MW capacity sizes; with plans being developed for even greater power ratings. The larger wind turbines have outpaced the availability of US-based testing facilities, the DOE stated. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
Image

Stoned Wallabies Make Crop Circles 104

It's the tripnaut! writes "The BBC reports that Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around 'as high as a kite', a government official has said. 'The one interesting bit that I found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,' says Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania. 'Then they crash,' she added."

Comment Re:No real impact (Score 5, Insightful) 874

Well that right there is where the problem inherently lies. This is just a plain old tax, but instead of seemingly coming from the government, most people gets the impression that it is from the 'evil' corporations. Damn those car makers and electric companies raising the costs! If the government wants to generate revenue, RAISE THE TAXES and suffer the consequences, don't try to shift blame to corporations.

Comment Re:Stupid (Score 1) 54

umm... no you put this inside cargo container, and it will attach itself and then sniff around for contraband, etc. The idea is that this will replace current methods, such as drug sniffing dogs, external scanners, and heartbeat monitors. Nothing in there says you build these into cargo containers. Heck, one of these is probably worth more than 100 cargo containers.
Role Playing (Games)

FF XIII Timeframe Set, FF XIV Confirmed 140

Square Enix announced at E3 that Final Fantasy XIII is planned for release this winter in Japan, and spring 2010 for North America. A new trailer was released as well. A separate announcement brought details about Final Fantasy XIV Online, an MMORPG due out in 2010 for Windows and the PS3. A teaser website was launched, with a trailer and some information about the developers working on the project. "Final Fantasy XIV Online is being developed with a simultaneous worldwide release in mind. The game will be initially released in English, Japanese, French, and German. The game will be produced by Hiromichi Tanaka (Final Fantasy I, II, III, and XI) and Nobuaki Komoto (Final Fantasy IX and XI) will serve as director. Longtime Final Fantasy fans will be happy to hear the Nobu Uematsu will return to provide the score."

Comment Medium Skill? (Score 5, Interesting) 59

From TFA: "Despite this," he admits, "anyone with a fast pull shot usually sneaks it past, so more improvements on the reaction-time front are definitely necessary before the computers are ready for the big leagues." There will always be strategies players can use against computers in games like these, too difficult for the programmers to think of every possibility ahead of time. Beating the system does not take skill, but simply finding an exploit. Example from Starcraft: early on, send a single drone to attack their base, the computer will immediately send all their resource gatherers to attack your single drone, thus stopping his advancement. Repeat until you have an army to kill the computer. Cheesy, but even a novice SC player can beat the AI that way.

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