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Real Time Strategy (Games)

Achron — an RTS With Time Travel 141

An anonymous reader writes "As much as I'm looking forward to StarCraft 2, there's a new RTS gaming tech that has me even more enthused. The Escapist Magazine has posted interviews and footage of the upcoming 'meta-time strategy game' Achron, which was announced at GDC earlier this year. It's a multiplayer RTS where you can send things through time. The official site has some gameplay footage as well, and it looks like their tech is useful outside of gaming."

Comment Wrong Criteria (Score 1) 372

You are considering the wrong criteria in getting a degree. You should instead be asking yourself, "What would I enjoy doing more?" The passion in doing what you enjoy is the best way to maximize your earning potential. You will enjoy going to work everyday, you will be excited to take on and complete diverse projects, and your passion and drive will be obvious to anyone who is around you. People will interpret this as a hardworking ethic at the company , and/or love of the company you work at which will in turn translate in to a higher income.

So if you are interested in setting policy, go for your MBA. If you are interested in applying computer technology to the business setting, go for the MS in IT degree. If you are interested in programming, and the creation of computer tools, go for the MS in computer science. However, there are many fields of study that you did not mention that may be of interest as well, everything from software engineering (specialization in writing software), to computer engineering (designing specialized computing devices), to HCI (how people interact with computers), to the numerous sub specialties of informatics (I'm personally studying health informatics, and the creation of unique tools to better health care and help clinicians be safer and more effective).

Sounds like you need to do more research into what you want to do for the rest of your life, and change the criteria basis for which you are basing this decision.

Comment Re:Timers? (Score 2, Insightful) 77

Exactly, make the hint button inaccessible for several seconds after a move has been made, justifying it by saying they haven't tried long enough to try figure out the next move. Imagine if you were sitting next to the player, what kinds of hints would you give them, and how often?

Developers should respond to the requests of their users, however, those requests should be tempered be the social aspect of user (player) interaction with the software (game).

Comment Re:I like Steam (Score 4, Interesting) 241

what's the problem?

The problem is that once you purchase the game, you cannot return it, you cannot sell it, and you cannot give it away/transfer it to another party.

As well, despite the fact that the steam version has no packaging costs, no printing costs, no warehousing costs, no stocking, shipping, or handling costs, you are still paying the same for the game as everyone else who bought it in the store.

Finally, the Steam store does not answer to market concerns, and operates arbitrarily. For example: In most stores, once the demand for a game has worn off, the price comes down in order to move the remaining copies of a game to make room for new games. In the Steam store, costs remain the same until the vendor authorizes a price reduction based on arbitrary decisions (increase sales volume, allow for pricing difference between game and sequel, etc.).

The technology embedded in Steam would allow for the first issue to be resolved, should Valve care to pursue this. As well, a second Steam store, not operated by Valve, yet accessible on the Steam system would ensure that the last two issues are properly addressed.

Education

Submission + - Student's Expulsion Over Facebook Photo Reversed 1

__aahuqu9051 writes: Following up Friday's article about a student being expelled for writing a 'threatening' photo description on Facebook, it seems once the pressure of a lawsuit backed by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) came against the Board of Regents, they have backed down. Barnes claims that proper disciplinary processes were not followed for his expulsion and is also asking reimbursement for expenses associated with moving to another university and enrolling there for one semester. Yesterday, the Board of Regents reversed the expulsion of Hayden Barnes. It is unknown at this time whether or not Barnes plans to re-enroll and continue at VSU.
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - AT&T CEO Confirms 3G iPhone in 2008 (informationweek.com)

An anonymous reader writes: AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told reporters at a meeting Thursday night that a 3G capable iPhone would be available "next year". There had previously been no confirmation of this rumor, but this may have stolen some of the thunder from the upcoming MacWorld in January.
Handhelds

Submission + - Bacteria Feared Infesting Medical Mobile Devices

D.A. Zollinger writes: With the uptake in mobile devices in medicine, especially with the uptake in computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems, clinicians are starting to fear that the very devices used to help find information at the patient's bedside are breeding ground for infectious agents. This is mostly due in part to health information technology (HIT) adapting off-the-shelf PDAs and other computing devices instead of having enough clout to demand an inexpensive mobile computing device that can be easily cleaned and disinfected.
The Courts

Submission + - Has RIAA Abandoned "Making Available"?

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA's standard complaint (pdf) was thrown out last month by a federal judge in California as so much "conclusory" "boilerplate" "speculation" in Interscope v. Rodriguez. Interestingly, the RIAA's amended complaint (pdf), filed six (6) days later, abandoned altogether the RIAA's "making available" argument, which it first formulated in defending the dismissal motion in Elektra v. Barker. This raises a number of questions, including (a) whether the RIAA is going to stick to this new form of complaint in future cases, (b) whether it is going to get into a different kind of trouble for some of its new allegations, such as its contention that the investigator "detected an individual" (contradicting the testimony of the RIAA's own expert witness) and the allegation that the defendant should be held liable because he or she is "the individual responsible for that IP address at that date and time", a phrase which would appear to be meaningless in a copyright infringement context, and (c) what tack defendants' lawyers should take (this was one lawyer's suggestion)."

Feed Engadget: Some new iPod nanos afflicted with tilted screens (engadget.com)

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

The new iPod nanos are exhibiting screen problems for a small subset of owners, whereby the screen doesn't appear to be completely level within the casing. More than a dozen people have reported the issue on Apple's Support forums, with most reports saying video appears tilted slightly to the left. Apple is replacing units that exhibit the problem, although judging by some anecdotal reports, entire batches at certain stores have the problem, making replacement a far from adequate solution. Fortunately, it appears as if it's possible to notice the issue with the nano inside the box. At least now we'll know what the problem is if we run into any gadget fans with crooked necks.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


The Courts

Submission + - Supreme Court rules Ebay sale binding. (smh.com.au)

Slurpee writes: The NSW Supreme court has ruled that making an offer of sale on Ebay is legally binding. In other words — you can't change your mind. In a case that reached the NSW Supreme Court, Peter Smythe sued Vin Thomas after he changed his mind on the sale of a 1946 World War II Wirraway plane after the eBay auction had ended. "It follows that, in my view, a binding contract was formed between the plaintiff and the defendent and that it should be specifically enforced," Justice Rein said in his decision. The judgment sets a precedent for future cases and means eBay sales could now be legally binding (At least in Australia).
Privacy

Submission + - Ruling by Secret US Court Allegedly Reduces Spying

conspirator57 writes: TFA http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la- na-spying2aug02,0,5813563.story?coll=la-home-cente r states that the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (a court that no citizen can establish standing to appear before) has ruled against Executive requests for so-called "basket warrants" as violating the 4th amendment to the Constitution, namely that such warrants do not meet the clearly expressed criteria in the second half of the amendment. To accomplish this they must have looked startlingly like British general warrants which were the original motivation for the 4th amendment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_(law) for more.

TFA is very sympathetic to the Executive branch, going on to depict ways in which we're all less safe because of this ruling. Personally, I feel safer with more rulings like this one. Just wish the process were a bit more transparent.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The Courts

Submission + - Dell Punishes Workers By Closing Call Center

An anonymous reader writes: After employees at Dell's Roseburg, Oregon call center filed a lawsuit about violations of state and federal labor law Dell responds by closing the call center and stating "the closure has nothing to do with a lawsuit filed by employees of the Roseburg center in February". This act in itself seems to be another violation of labor law due the closure being a retaliatory act.

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