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First Person Shooters (Games)

Berlin Wall 'Death Strip' Game Sparks Outrage In Germany 193

Posted by Soulskill from the sweet-zombie-reagan dept.
gzipped_tar writes "According to Spiegel Online, 'A new computer game where players assume the roles of border guards and shoot people trying to escape from communist East Germany has unleashed a storm of controversy in Germany. The game's creator says he wanted to teach young people about history, but he has been accused of glorifying violence. ... The name of the multi-player FPS game, 1,378 (kilometers), was inspired by the length of the border between East and West Germany. ... [Players] choose between the roles of the border guards or would-be escapees: the escapee only has one goal — to get over the wall, but the border guard has more options, and can shoot or capture the escapee. He can also swap sides and try to clamber over the border defenses himself.' By choosing to play the border guard and kill the escapee, the player would win an in-game medal from the government of East Germany. But then the guard would time-travel forward to the year 2000, where he would have to stand trial. Jens Stober, 23, designed the game as a media art student at the University of Design, Media and Arts in Karlsruhe. He said that his intention was to teach young people about German history."

Comment Re:No. (Score 1) 379

by waferhead (#33740212) Attached to: Does A Company Deserve the Same Privacy Rights As You?

Wasting a mod point to reply... Yes.

I have no issue giving the corporation the right to vote as an individual... One vote...
With the same limitations as to contributions an individual has. (one person) and prohibition of lobbying expenses over some trivial amount.

Corporations have "owned" politicians for ages. Thats what must end.

Here's what a "person" can contribute... Lobbying expenses perhaps should fall under these caps.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/contriblaws.htm
Toys

Building the LEGO MMO 116

Posted by Soulskill from the brick-by-brick dept.
Gamasutra has a lengthy interview with NetDevil's Ryan Seabury, creative director for LEGO Universe, which is due to launch next month. He talks about some of the difficulties in graphically optimizing a game with so many discrete, interactive objects, and mentions that they'll be keeping an eye out for inappropriate contructs to avoid problems similar to those that cropped up with Spore. "One thing we can say is when you build models you have your own property, and you can share that if you want to. If you share something publicly, it will be monitored by a human before it's seen by other people." Seabury also explains their desire to keep the game simple, using players' creativity as a driving force, as well as NetDevil's decision to stay away from a micro-transaction business model.

Comment Re:Two Wrongs. . . (Score 1) 315

by waferhead (#33701538) Attached to: UK Pursues Tax Evaders Using Stolen Bank Details

I'll take a shot at it... at least based on how the US legal and tax system work. (sort of inherited from the British, at least loosely)

There would likely be protections from criminal prosecution (inadmissible evidence or such) at least until they found enough evidence OTHER than the list itself.

BUT---The tax man doesn't really care much to prosecute you.
He wants his money. ...You give him the money, or he takes it forcibly.

You aren't likely to make much if convicted/in prison, so it's sort of a twisted win-win...

If you spent/lost it all and cannot pay him, then you may have a problem.

Comment Re:You would need one nuke per mountain valley (Score 1) 279

by waferhead (#33694530) Attached to: CIA Drones May Have Used Illegal, Inaccurate Code

That's an expensive way to kill goats and scare the crap out of the guys that left the place two days ago and pisses off the neutrals downwind enough for them to take up arms.
The idea fails on every single level even if you have zero morals.

The FAEs don't have fallout... and can have almost the same effect as a tactical nuke, particluarly so if you are hiding in a cave in the blast zone.

Some people cannot appreciate a decent ludicrous example when they see one. ;-)

Comment Re:How could they not know their job? (Score 1) 279

by waferhead (#33693956) Attached to: CIA Drones May Have Used Illegal, Inaccurate Code

The entire point of American warfare is to expend as much ammunition as possible so to stick the American public with the biggest bill possible. A 13 meter margin of error means you can justify using three guided missiles instead of one. How does a military contractor not see the benefit of that? How are they supposed to create business for you if you're tying them up in court!

These clowns can't possibly think they're actually looking for WMD's and Osama Bin Laden could they? They're looking for an intractable enemy to spend billions trying to irradicate, and they've found them in the Taliban, just like Isreal found the Palestinians. Spooky sneaky "bad guys" are literally booming business.

The enemy is only intractable due to the fact that we still have some morals and desperately try to keel collateral damage to a minimum.
This is also what drives the expensive drive for new toys.
If we could just nuke or FAE then bulldoze the whole place it would be cheaper.

The Taleban do not have any regard for human life, so they don't have that issue...quite the opposite.
Drug dealers are like that.

Comment Re:Let me see if I have this straight (Score 2, Funny) 279

by waferhead (#33693920) Attached to: CIA Drones May Have Used Illegal, Inaccurate Code

1) US creates military drones used in Pakistan.

2) Drones are controlled using software.

3) Software company that writes drone software is bought by IBM.

4) Software can now, potentially, be outsourced to IBM development personnel in um, Pakistan.

Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?

Don't ask me, before I followed the links, I was trying to figure out how IBM bought the CIA ;-)
Image

Australian Politician Caught Viewing Porn 150

Posted by samzenpus from the stiff-opposition-party dept.
destinyland writes "An Australian Parliament member has resigned after admitting he'd used government computers to access porn and gambling sites. McLeay 'gave an uncomfortable press conference outside Parliament House,' notes one technology site, 'during which he admitted he had acted in a standard not expected of cabinet ministers.' Paul McLeay was also the Minister for Mineral and Forest Resources as well as the Minister for Ports and Waterways. In resigning, he apologized to his constituents and parliamentary colleagues, as well as to his wife and family."

Comment Re:People still buy ink jet printers? (Score 1) 294

by waferhead (#33384514) Attached to: Lexmark Sues 24 Companies Over Toner-Cartridge Patents

Sorry, 600 dpi doesn't cut it for printing photos.
Maybe 20 years ago.

2400dpi (+ dithering) DOES, even if you just use it to proof what you are taking to Walmarts photolab for printing.

Don't get me wrong--- Color lasers are wonderful for what they are for.

They are NOT ideal for photo printing---Not their strong point at all.

Comment Re:People still buy ink jet printers? (Score 1) 294

by waferhead (#33367186) Attached to: Lexmark Sues 24 Companies Over Toner-Cartridge Patents

Because color laser 'photo quality" prints look like modern inkjet prints set to "fast draft"?

My experience is more the opposite. A decent color laser printer produces photo quality prints at about eight pages per minute. A typical inkjet printer produces comparable quality prints about 100 times that slow. Anything an inkjet produces in a reasonable amount of time makes dot matrix printers look like an improvement. Ugliest prints on the planet, ink spatter and all.

Who said anything about speed?
Speed is not really the issue either unless you're printing many copies, which is silly to do at home on ~anything esp inkjets.
If I need 100 full size color photos I'm hitting Walmart/CVS/Kinkos(or whatever it's called now).

I have yet to see any ink splatter on anything in the last 10 years, even at work that's unusual.

I tried Epson last, no replaceable printhead and going on vacation killed it, I liked Canon, but no factory Linux support, or on recent machines.
HP printers rock w/linux support, and seems reliable so far, at least if you buy something decent.

The next setup I buy will be a business class all in one though, the consumer grade machines ... You get what you pay for.

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