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Comment Re:Oh! (Score 1) 136

Because it would work in Korea. It would work excellently and nobody would play it (they already have PC Bangs and the like).

For Korean broadband standards, this isn't revolutionary.

They should be testing it on the lowest common denominator first. I doubt this system is going to work in the US, Canada or most Western countries. There simply isn't enough bandwidth for it yet (or most people are going to play with such a low resolution that its not even worth it).
Censorship

Left 4 Dead 2 Banned In Australia 215

An anonymous reader writes "According to Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification, Left 4 Dead 2's content exceeds that allowable for an MA15+ rating. Any such game is rated as Refused Classification, effectively banning it. From the report: 'The game contains realistic, frenetic, and unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon "the Infected" who are living humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently. The player can choose from a variety of weapons including pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and sniper rifles. However, it is the use of the "melee" weapons such as the crowbar, axe, chainsaw and Samurai sword which inflict the most damage. These close-in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore.'"

Comment Re:Schools dont change (Score 4, Insightful) 705

Touch-typing is a drop in the bucket.

First, we'd have to begin to get rid of the lecture method with all it's crotchety old proponents who over-emphasize the main learning stream while under-emphasizing the alternatives.

Then we'd have to rebuild education metholodogy to suit the 21st century. I'd say we're a few generations behind.
PlayStation (Games)

Why Is It So Difficult To Allow Cross-Platform Play? 389

cookiej writes "I just got the most recent version of the Madden franchise ('10) for the PS3. Can somebody explain to me why EA has separate networks for the different platforms, only allowing players to compete with people using the same console? Back in the day, there were large discrepancies between the consoles, but these days it seems like the Xbox and the PS3 are at least near the same level. After so many releases for this franchise, they've got to have a fairly standardized protocol for networking; it seems arbitrary not to let them compete. Or am I just missing something obvious? Is it just a matter of Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network not working together?"
Input Devices

Can New Game Control Schemes Hope To Match the PC Keyboard? 202

An opinion piece on Gamasutra discusses how, in spite of the fancy new motion control systems that have come to console gaming, the PC's keyboard and mouse setup is still unreplaceable for many titles and genres. Quoting: "With over 100 keys to choose from (back of the box quotation right there), the possibilities are near endless, if you start to think of shift and control functions altering the purpose of keys. It means that, when the developers start to make their game, they don't have to worry about the limitations of the interface, knowing that, if all else fails, they can always assign the compass to K, even if that's a bit of a stretch to all but the pianists. The keyboard is the friend of ambition, and ArmA 2 is the testament to that, in all its surrealist, broken glory. ... It's the same reason RTS games have found a home on the PC for so long, able to use the skills people accumulate moving around windows and clicking on icons to command troops and manipulate their battle lines. Developers taking advantage of what we already know to teach us something we don't is what gaming is all about."

Comment New editions (Score 1) 398

In University, I remember having professors who pleaded with us to buy the newest edition of the textbook, which was only available on campus in the bookstore.

I've compared editions quite a number of time. Occasionally the differences are stark enough to warrant the purchase of a new edition, sometimes a few changes are tagged on just to churn a profit. The most memorable of this was a textbook for my logic course, where the edition cost more than $50 more than the previous edition (already $150) and had nothing other than two new chapters, which were horrible. Our professor for that course made a powerpoint for fun just to explain how badly the chapters "sucked."

Then there are the professors you can be sure get some kind of commission from the publisher for forcing their students into buying the newest editions, knowing they were garbage.

Anyway, veering into off-topic land now so I'll stop. I hope this rental system really works out and does provide new editions. I spent near $10000 on textbooks in my four years and half of it was totally unnecessary.
Graphics

Augmented Reality Shaping the Future of Games 56

Slatterz writes "Microsoft's Natal can recognize a player's skeletal structure, and also perform some sophisticated translation of body physics into in-game movement. As a control mechanism this is fascinating, but the next step is to merge the game graphics with the real world. Now, basic examples of augmented reality (AR) are being shown using a mobile phone, unlike previous demos which have involved walking around with a large backpack strapped to your body. A game titled Arhrrrr blends live-action video overlaid with game graphics. The processing is taken care of by Nvidia's new Tegra platform, while the game's 'maps' are generated by pointing the phone's camera (in this case 5MP) at a 2D drawing/printout lying on a table. The end result is a 3D world which seems to spring forth in real time, with buildings popping up as players move around the game 'map.' This story shows two other interesting videos demonstrating AR, including the ability to add real-life objects into the virtual game world and have the gameplay respond and react accordingly."

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One of the chief duties of the mathematician in acting as an advisor... is to discourage... from expecting too much from mathematics. -- N. Wiener

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