kuma - Slashdot User

Failed Games That Damaged Or Killed Their Companies 397

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 20, 2010 @02:22PM from the cause-or-symptom dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Develop has an excellent piece up profiling a bunch of average to awful titles that flopped so hard they harmed or sunk their studio or publisher. The list includes Haze, Enter The Matrix, Hellgate: London, Daikatana, Tabula Rasa, and — of course — Duke Nukem Forever. 'Daikatana was finally released in June 2000, over two and a half years late. Gamers weren't convinced the wait was worth it. A buggy game with sidekicks (touted as an innovation) who more often caused you hindrance than helped ... achieved an average rating of 53. By this time, Eidos is believed to have invested over $25 million in the studio. And they called it a day. Eidos closed the Dallas Ion Storm office in 2001.'"

A Space Cannon That Might Actually Work 432

Posted by timothy on Friday January 15, 2010 @08:42PM from the whoooshing-sound dept.

Unequivocal writes "Chalk another one up to Jules Verne. Physicist John Hunter is proposing a space cannon with a new design idea: it's mostly submerged. 'Many engineers have toyed with the [space cannon] concept, but nobody has came up with an actual project that may work. Hunter's idea is simple: Build a cannon near the equator, submerged in the ocean, hooked to a floating rig ... A system like this will cut launch costs from $5,000 per pound to only $250 per pound. It won't launch people into space because of the excessive acceleration, but those guys at the ISS can use it to order pizza and real ice cream.' Though it won't work on people, with launch costs that low, who cares?"

Wells Fargo Bank Sues Itself 445

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 13, 2009 @01:37PM from the so-crazy-it-just-might-work dept.

Extreme economic problems require extreme solutions, and Wells Fargo Bank has come up with a good one. They have decided to sue themselves. Wells Fargo holds the first and second mortgages on a condominium that is going into foreclosure. As holder of the first, they are suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is Wells Fargo. It gets better. The company has hired a lawyer to defend itself against its own lawsuit. The defense lawyer even filed this answer to the complaint, "Defendant admits that it is the owner and holder of a mortgage encumbering the subject real property. All other allegations of the complaint are denied." On the website The Consumer Warning Network, Angie Moreschi wrote: "We've apparently reached the perfect storm for complete and utter idiocy by some banks trying to foreclose on homes."

Sega Not Giving Up On Mature Wii Games 92

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @08:20AM from the not-yet-anyway dept.

Sega has recently taken a few attempts at developing games for the Wii that were targeted at adults rather than kids. House of the Dead: Overkill and Madworld haven't been incredibly popular, but they've done well enough to turn a profit. In Sega's eyes, this makes mature-themed games for the Wii a successful experiment, or at least one they're willing to continue. Other companies are looking to get into the act as well. EA will be releasing M-rated Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii, and Bethesda has a project in the works too.

Church of Scientology On Trial In France 890

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday May 26, 2009 @06:54PM from the speaking-truth-to-fraud dept.

An anonymous reader sends word that a trial has opened in Paris that could shut down Scientology in France. The organization stands accused of targeting vulnerable people for commercial gain. Scientology does not have the status of a religion there, as it does in the US, and anti-cult groups have pursued it vigorously over more than 30 years. The current case is based on complaints filed by two women in December 1998 and July 1999. Three other former members who had initially joined the complaint have withdrawn after "reaching a financial arrangement with church officials." If convicted, the seven top Scientologists in France face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of €1M. The Church of Scientology-Celebrity Centre and its Scientology Freedom Space bookshop not only face a much larger fine but also run the risk of being shut down completely.

Comment Perhaps Check Online College Course Materials (Score 1) 65

by kuma on Thursday November 20, 2008 @02:19PM (#25835107) Attached to: Good Deep-Knowledge Analog Design Books?

Cookbooks can be trouble because without insight into the advantages and vulnerabilities of a circuit, it might simply fail.

In radio frequency work, we often added variable attenuators in the signal path, to allow tuning. To know the attenuator range though, required creating a spreadsheet to track worst case signal levels forward and backward to the attenuators.

"The kind of knowledge that gives you deep understanding of analog circuits design. Can anyone suggest good books and maybe where to order them from?"

Many of these sources are going to be focused on integrated circuit design, but they are still great sources when combined with course notes.

You should be able to find course notes online from MIT or other universities. Universities have been videotaping professors for more than 20 years. Textbooks are terse. It is amazing to watch someone like Anton Mavretic casually calculate impedance and gain for various circuits.

Aside from the text suggestions here, you might find good references in online course descriptions and class notes.

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