plasticaddict - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Sprint (Score 0) 166

by plasticaddict on Wednesday August 24, 2011 @12:29PM (#37192596) Attached to: Verizon Makes It Easy To Go Over Your Data Cap

Both the US brand of "Virgin Mobile" and "Boost Mobile" are owned and operated by Sprint. The biggest disadvantage is that they do not allow roaming on the Verizon network when native Sprint coverage is iffy. Normal Sprint accounts do (or did) have a roaming agreement, which makes Sprint's coverage seem better than it actually is.

The Problems With Video Game Voice Acting 251

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday March 17, 2010 @06:50AM from the who-called-in-de-fleet dept.

The Guardian's Games blog explores the tendency of modern video games to suffer from poor voice acting, a flaw made all the more glaring by increasingly precise and impressive graphics. Quoting: "Due to the interactive nature of games, actors can't be given a standard film script from which they're able to gauge the throughline of their character and a feel for the dramatic development of the narrative. Instead, lines of dialogue need to be isolated into chunks so they can be accessed and triggered within the game in line with the actions of each individual player. Consequently, the performer will usually be presented with a spreadsheet jammed with hundreds of single lines of dialogue, with little sense of context or interaction. ... But according to David Sobolov, one of the most experienced videogame voice actors in the world (just check out his website), the significant time pressures mean that close, in-depth direction is not always possible. 'Often, there's a need to record a great number of lines, so to keep the session moving, once we've established the tone of the character we're performing, the director will silently direct us using the spreadsheet on the screen by simply moving the cursor down the page to indicate if he/she liked what we did. Or they'll make up a code, like typing an 'x' to ask us to give them another take.' It sounds, in effect, like a sort of acting battery farm, a grinding, dehumanizing production line of disembodied phrases, delivered for hours on end. Hardly conducive to Oscar-winning performances."

Study Finds That Video Games Hinder Learning In Young Boys 278

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday March 17, 2010 @03:35AM from the fun-activities-distract-from-studies,-film-at-11 dept.

dcollins writes "Researchers at Denison University in Ohio have shown that giving PlayStations to young boys leads to slower progress in reading and writing skills. Quoting: 'The study is the first controlled trial to look at the effects of playing video games on learning in young boys. That is to say, the findings aren't based on survey data of kids' game habits, but instead on a specific group of children that were randomly assigned to receive a PlayStation or not ... Those with PlayStations also spent less time engaged in educational activities after school and showed less advancement in their reading and writing skills over time than the control group, according to tests taken by the kids. While the game-system owners didn't show significant behavioral problems, their teachers did report delays in learning academic skills, including writing and spelling.'"

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