rhog - Slashdot User

Comment There are racing games and racing simulators (Score 1) 220

by rhog on Tuesday February 01, 2011 @11:27AM (#35067944) Attached to: Are Gamers Safer Drivers?

The games do not really punish you for causing accidents. And some online games are more of a demolition derby then real racing.

A simulator like iRacing keeps track of your incidents and as such you are more or less forced to learn clean driving without causing incidents. Racing accidents still happen though. The simulator is starting to get that realistic with usage of force feedback wheels that you can learn to catch and correct situations which without practise would result in a spin or collision. Some people racing there have stated that it helped avoid them sudden road accidents of other people and come to a safe stop. So for some people it definitely helps in increasing their driving experience. One has to be able to keep the simulation and the real world apart though.

Submission + - Virtual space station sold for 330 000 US $ (planetcalypso.com) 2

Submitted by Pirx Danford on Tuesday December 29, 2009 @11:10AM

Pirx Danford writes: The world record sale for a virtual item was surpassed yesterday by the avatar known as Buzz Erik Lightyear when he acquired a very special piece of property.
For the incredible amount of 330 000 US $ the space station Crystal Palace has been won by Buzz in the ingame auction system of Entropia Universe.

From now on Buzz Erik Lightyear can set a hunting tax in the 4 domes in the space station, which inhabit two unique creatures know as Aurli and Kreltin.

Crystal Palace was not newly introduced but was part of the game for a long time already and quite a lot of the All Time High loots have been dropped there.
Even though Entropia Universe just lived through a rough transition to the Cry Engine 2 platform and not all previous game systems have been reenabled,
this news surely will draw quite some attention to the game.
With freshly polished graphics and a much better technical framework and a lot of planet partners ready to launch their own unique worlds to compete with the as of yet only planet Calypso there are exciting times ahead as well for the players of Entropia Universe and the companies behind it.

Entropia Universe is likewise to Second Life a real cash economy or short RCE based game, which means you can not put cash in but if you are lucky or smart you can also withdraw real money to your bank account.
Unlike Second Life the ingame currency has a fixed conversion rate of 10 PED (Project Entropia Dollar) to 1 US Dollar but is much closer game wise to traditional MMOs meaning players can not create own content so much as in Second Life.

The player who won the auction was known previously as one of the best crafters within the game, like with Chuck Norris jokes there was a real bunch of sayings around of what Buzz Erik Lightyear could achieve.
Free citation: "When Mindark wanted to create the world they asked Buzz to craft it for them."

With a long known player in well standings like Buzz Erik Lightyear the space station Crystal Palace is now in competent hands.

Volcanic Activity May Split Africa In Two 170

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 05, 2009 @05:04AM from the spit-up dept.

An anonymous reader writes 'Volcanic activity may split the African continent in two, creating a new ocean, say experts. This is due to a recent geological crack which has appeared in northeastern Ethiopia.'

Cryptic's Roper Explains Microtransactions For Champions Online 82

Posted by Soulskill on Thursday July 23, 2009 @02:23AM from the dollars-per-experience-point dept.

Karen Hertzberg writes "Many MMO gamers have expressed concern over the recent announcement that micro-transactions would play a role in the upcoming release of Champions Online. Knowing that MTs can be a touchy subject for fans, Ten Ton Hammer sat down with Bill Roper for an interview. He reveals more about Cryptic's take on the business model, what type of items you can expect to find through MTs, and how the system will be integrated into Champions Online come launch day. Roper said, 'The idea is wanting to be able to have things there that players can get if they want to, but they don't negatively impact the balance of the game. It's not like we're expecting players to go and purchase things through micro-transactions that then give them some huge leg up. All those things I think people get worried about, but really the focus is on having things that are fun, cosmetic or are things that are more account-wide and maintenance based.'"

Google Funding the Next Big One? 295

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 24, 2009 @10:14PM from the mole-men-approved dept.

wdavies writes "According to this New York Times article, Google is funding a controversial deep drill geothermal project north of San Francisco. Apparently the company, AltaRock, omitted to disclose that the same deep drilling caused a major quake in Basel, Switzerland when it was last used. Given the notorious geological instability of the Northern Californian coast, this strikes me as kind of dumb — and given the known likelihood of this technique producing earthquakes, somewhat EVIL."

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