Comment Re:Why is Twitter involved? (Score 1) 124
Yup, that'd be my guess too.
SMS is old hat Granddad, get with the new twitter/mash-up/facebook party.
Comment Re:more to the point, is this really necessary? (Score 2, Insightful) 169
Yeah, because knowledge about computing has everything to do with intelligence, eh?
Comment Times are a changing.. (Score 2, Informative) 221
Well I guess that the 'stated objectives of the game' have changed then.
Reminds me a bit of 'Ultimate Team' in FIFA09 (and soon FIFA10) where you can earn points to pay the wages of a top team, but realistically you'd have to buy the card packs in order to fund having a top team, making a two tier system where you can only compete by spending real money.
It sucks, but it is the way it is.
Comment Well done to all involved. (Score 4, Insightful) 118
This 'story' should be held up as an example of all that is wrong with the slashdot story submission process.
Comment I'm not sure I understand (Score 1) 511
Are they meant to be really badly photoshopped? Is that part of the charm?
Comment Re:We don't already do this? (Score 0) 176
> It's even less likely to work on the console market, where sales are driven purely by graphics and not gameplay.
[citation needed]
Comment Re:Truth in summary....Editors Stoned/Drunk.... (Score 1) 263
It's quite surprising that such an error can stay on the front page for this long. Don't the editors actually look at the site at all?
Hints of a Link Between Autism and Vinyl Flooring 356
SpuriousLogic sends in a link from Scientific American to a study by Swedish and US researchers that reaches the surprising conclusion that there may be a link between autism and vinyl floors. "Children who live in homes with vinyl floors, which can emit chemicals called phthalates, are more likely to have autism, according to research by Swedish and US scientists published Monday. ... The scientists were surprised by their finding, calling it 'far from conclusive.' ... The researchers found four environmental factors associated with autism: vinyl flooring, the mother's smoking, family economic problems, and condensation on windows, which indicates poor ventilation. Infants or toddlers who lived in bedrooms with vinyl, or PVC, floors were twice as likely to have autism five years later... than those with wood or linoleum flooring. ... Several scientists who did not participate in the study cautioned that it has too many limitations to draw conclusions, but they suggested that new studies be designed to look for a connection between autism and indoor air pollutants."
Comment Re:Surprise? (Score 2, Insightful) 724
You must be unlucky or the cause.
Comment Re:You know whats ironic? (Score 5, Funny) 345
That isn't an example of irony at all, unless you are following the "Alanis Morissette" theory whereby anything can be called ironic without consideration of it's actual relevence to irony.
Comment Re:I hope it succeeds (Score 2, Funny) 535
I'm guessing that they've done a little bit of research before going down this road.
Square Enix To Buy Eidos, Midway Files For Bankruptcy 88
arcticstoat writes to tell us that Square Enix has been revealed as the potential buyer to Eidos, developer of the Tomb Raider franchise. Eidos had been shedding workers and studios in an attempt for financial stability. This comes alongside news that Midway Games is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to stave off creditors while they sort out what's left of their resources. World of Goo publisher Brighter Minds Media also filed for bankruptcy last month. Free Radical, a UK studio recently put in a similar position was snapped up by Crytek, and we discussed news of Sega's financial turmoil as well. It seems that claims from late last year suggesting the games industry may be "recession proof" are quickly being proven wrong, though Kotaku suggests that most of the blame falls on the developers.
Comment Re:Incredible (Score 2, Funny) 223
I've never seen one before - no one has - but I'm guessing it's a white hole.
Hadron Collider Relaunch Delayed 223
SpuriousLogic writes "There's been another delay in the schedule announced for getting the Large Hadron Collider switched back on — now it's September 2009, a year after it shut down due to a malfunction. Scientists had said they expected the $5.4B machine to be repaired by November 2008, but then pushed the date back to June 2009, before the latest delay."
Simulating Emotions Within Games 47
Gamasutra is running an opinion piece about the way video games handle simulated emotions. Most often, an non-player character's emotional state is used to either tell a story or to drive gameplay. The author suggests that as both concepts become more complex in modern games, the simulation of emotions must also become more dynamic to remain interesting. Quoting:
"Most of our emotional simulations use a simple sensation/calculation/behavior loop. Someone says or does something to a character; this influences his emotional state; he acts upon his feelings. His emotional state then reverts to a more neutral state over time (I was angry half an hour ago, but I've calmed down now), or changes again in response to another sensation. If these systems are really simple they produce absurd results: a character is furious one moment and cheerful a second later, like a Warner Brothers cartoon character. This is the kind of thing you get with finite state machines. This approach doesn't take into account the fact that behavior itself changes emotions. Behavior is not merely an output to be exhibited; it also affects how we feel. It feeds back into our emotional state."
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