markalot - Slashdot User

Comment Perhaps they were cheating? (Score 4, Informative) 518

by markalot on Tuesday July 03, 2012 @11:07AM (#40528145) Attached to: Linux Users Banned From <em>Diablo III</em> Servers

Too many assumptions here. When cheaters get caught they like to spout lies ... so why believe any of this?

A post from support (a blue) in the thread above:

>> Playing the game on Linux, although not officially supported, will not get you banned – cheating will.

Comment Sales pitch for 3D? (Score 2) 324

by markalot on Monday March 26, 2012 @09:27AM (#39473375) Attached to: HDTV Expert Alfred Poor Tells You What to Buy and What Not to Buy (Video)

There is no real technical information here, this video is targeted to the standard consumer, not a slashdot reader.

What I find most offensive though, is that you get 3/4 of the way in before you realize this is really a sales pitch for 3D. Yes, he really wants us to buy 3D so the installed base gets bigger and more content is available. Sorry. I wear glasses, I will never sit down and watch a 3D movie. I just don't care about 3D, nor do I see any sense in spending the extra money for a 3D set. It doesn't make any sense. I still laugh when I think of a 3D TV purchase for my family of four. ... now does this come with 4 glasses? No, just two? Oh, there's a special on extra glasses? How nice. So I pay hundreds more for a 3D set and I need to buy extra glasses.

Comment Firefox Mode (Score 2, Funny) 259

by markalot on Thursday February 04, 2010 @04:23PM (#31026352) Attached to: IE Flaw Gives Hackers Access To User Files

I run IE in Firefox mode, so I think I'm protected. ;)

Familiarity and Habituation In Learning Games 14

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday April 04, 2009 @03:39AM from the what-did-those-pixels-ever-do-to-you dept.

Gamasutra is running a feature about how the ease of learning new games depends on the types of games a player has seen before. "Pong offers quick pick-up not because it is easier to learn than Computer Space (although that was also true), but because it draws on familiar conventions from that sport. Or better, Pong is 'easy to learn' precisely because it assumes the basic rules and function of a familiar cultural practice." The article goes on to examine how the need to master some games is more akin to the "catchiness" of a song than an addiction. "Familiarity relates to another of Barsom's observations: repetition. Catchy songs often have a 'hook,' a musical phrase where the majority of the catchy payload resides. Indeed, the itch usually lasts only a few bars, sometimes annoyingly so. But games rely on small atoms of interaction even more so than do songs. The catchy part of a game repeats more innately than does a song's chorus. In Tetris it's the fitting together of tetrominoes."

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