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Submission + - Neal Stephenson reinventing computer swordfighting (kickstarter.com)

toxygen01 writes: "Neal Stephenson, sci-fi writer mostly known for Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon books, takes on revolutionizing virtual sword fighting with help of crowdfunding. Inspired by a little known fictional universe "Mongoliad", an interactive book he is participating on, his company is trying to develop hardware (low-latency motion controller) and software for realistic medieval sword fighting. From what is promised, it will try to be open for other developers by having API and SDK available for further modding."

Comment Re:Fantastic franchise, great story arc (Score 2) 100

SPOILER

Lets not forget; and I hope the developers didn't either. That, Washington at some point during the war acquired a 'Piece of Eden'. Which was passed down to each subsequent president. So, hopefully this 'American' piece will factor heavily into the story.

Also, this is a chance for them to establish the blood line convergence between Ezio's and Altair's to form subject 16 and Desmond's bloodline. Which makes sense since both characters are decidedly American.

AMD

Submission + - Is the GPU market saturated with subpar products? 1

sirroc writes: Does the GPU market really need 13 versions of a Radeon 7xxx series; Four of which are just rebranded 6xxx series?. I have seen far to many writings from people whom thought they had a GPU that was suitable; only to have it be woefully under-powered. Would it be better for companies to focus on 3-4 versions? Can GPU chip makers support a product line cut that large anymore? Does this hurt PC gaming to have such under-powered products available (often sold as gaming products in OEMs)?

Comment Re:It's not going to work (Score 2) 178

Except that for the most part; they did give the customer a ton of options with the PS3. If I so wanted I can use any bluetooth headset or keyboard I want, any 2.5" SATA HDD. any USB keyboard, any USB external HDD. Perhaps that is why Ken Kutaragi was given the boot; as they saw the line on accessory margins and died a little inside.

Comment Re:You know why they call it Xbox 720 (Score 1) 543

Activision or Microsoft wouldn't "make" shit if I bought MW3 used, on the 360. Yet, both would make plenty of margin if I bought their DLC map packs.

By allowing used sales it potentially keeps the game's community alive longer. By eliminating the value based customer you could potentially limit the community as a whole; where the player base shrinks from its post launch honeymoon. I would love to know how many people are playing MW2 right now on Live that did not by the game at launch or even MW3.

Comment Indeed. (Score 1) 52

I remember reading an article during the opening phase of the purchase. In it; it stated that should AT&T spend the $30B to upgrade their network, etc. It would be vastly superior to their rivals in any form. Which is why the red flags went up. As proven, this was about eliminating competition and eventually an assumed increase in prices. The cost of the $30B merger would have been offset by the increase in the X millions of customers that Tmobile has. Not to mention that AT&T had planned to phase out Tmobile's system, so that people would be forced to buy new phones with the AT&T frequencies.

I hope that with the ever decreasing price of bandwidth and increase in end user access to that will help smaller companies. However; should a future spectrum be auctioned off then once again we're screwed.

Comment Re:and this is a good thing? (Score 1) 257

There really doesn't need to be a technological solution to this. Just watching the University of Oregon football team is a perfect example. While their playbook is simplistic to a pro scheme; the purpose is speed. According to ESPN, the Ducks averaged around 20'ish seconds per play. The breakneck (per football standards) pace of play easily exposes poor conditioning. The reason that they play so quickly is that every player looks to the sidelines for the play call. Not just the QB. This ensures that everyone gets the play as quickly as possible without the need to huddle.

I feel that the NFL needs to speed up their plays. A 45 second play clock with no timeouts, as a defense effectively (not always; see Chicago v. Denver) ends the game with anything under two minutes remaining. The NCAA has the same problem.

However, if a technological solution is needed then a broadcast to all offensive players for a play call seems appropriate.

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