I ordered mine in April? May? It got here last Saturday. I'm not complaining (I've been busy with other stuff; I haven't even had a chance to play with it yet!), it's pretty awesome to think of this kind of power for so little cost, and it's like early Christmas :)
That is why I found the Win 8 announcement so weird originally. Why let it compete against Windows 7, which is to me the best version of the OS by a wide margin.
What else were they supposed to do? Let it compete against Windows 3.1 instead? Just not release it for another three years?
Well, maybe the second of those would have been a good idea: spend a few more years adding features and polish. But presumably they wanted basically that OS out there competing with iOS and Android. And perhaps they reckon more people will buy Surface and Windows Phone devices when the UI feels more familiar on account of using it on desktop and laptop computers.
And, actually, it's hard to see how Windows 8 would get more users, or make more money for Microsoft, if they wait three years instead of starting to sell it now and gradually improving it over those three years. I can see only one way: if the wait lets them make more radical changes that they can't apply to an OS that's already out there being used. But there's a limit to how much you can change at once without alienating everyone, and Windows 8 may be pushing it already.
I agree with the almost all your points except about them stealing ideas. Ripping off the same game from indie developers is wrong. It isn't them using basic ideas like a top nav or usernames, there are examples of them copying entire games[1].
1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/01/25/everything...
My argument is that Zynga stole another band's style and lyrics but changed the presentation slightly. They did not build on the 'basic ideas' like having a certain set of instruments.
"Whites are the people that built this country." You are surely very wrong. This country was very literally built on the backs of minorities and slaves. You really think America would have near the economic power today without those years of free labor to farm their free (stolen) farm land?
Case in point, one of the strongest arguments against emancipation was that it would actually cripple the national economy. I expect that's not only in America either.
The vast majority of slaves that we got of African origin were traded to us by other Africans. I'd say of the two possibilities of enslavement in Africa, being to a ship bound for the new world held the most promise. If you disagree, I will buy you a one way ticket to Liberia on the condition that you renounce your citizenship.
As a Slav, my people were in bondage much longer than blacks in the United States. Try an order of a millenia or two. I do not care. It is far more advantageous for me to be industrious and build personal wealth than blame distant oppressors for a few centuries of enslavement. I benefitted from the bad conditions of my ancestors, and guess what? So did blacks in the United States. They should stop being professional victims and make things if they want to have equal cultural influence.
Beyond that, this whole discussion is a distraction from the people that have real undue power, those in control of the banks and the media.... If we fight amongst ourselves about race we miss the man behind the Zion curtain.
Ion Storm rivals Looking Glass Entertainment as one of the bigger disappointments of the 1990s PC gaming scene. Both companies produced an incredible roster of games -- Thief, Deus Ex, and the amazing System Shock series (which managed to frighten so much with so little) -- then vanished after figuratively lighting money on fire.
Can anyone point to companies producing games like this today? Games that are sparse, minimal, and full of atmosphere and character? I'd really like to find a few before I give up and buy Halo 4.
What exactly do you mean by sparse and minimal? Thief I can see, but Deus Ex had 11 different skill areas; nanoaugmentations; weapon upgrades; a well written, branching storyline that incorporated every conspiracy theory known to man; multiple ways to complete missions; etc.
It's funny that you mention Halo 4 - I thought the original Halo had some of the best atmosphere of any FPS game ever, especially the Flood levels (people seem to be split on whether they loved or hated them). I thought it did a fantastic job of conveying the sense of a desperate fight for survival, and the final escape was just incredibly thrilling, especially in co-op. Halo 2 and 3 didn't come anywhere close to that. I haven't played ODST or Reach, so I'm curious if anyone agrees with me about Halo 1 and would recommend either of those.
As far recent games - if you want a sparse, minimal, terrifying game, try Amnesia: Dark Descent. It's so minimal that you don't get any weapons. There's also an XBox game called Alan Wake that was superb. Going back a little farther, there's an older Russian horror game called Pathologic that's terrifying, if you can find it and get past the bad translation and voice acting.
They're anything but sparse and minimal, but the recent Fallout games (3 and New Vegas) are full of atmosphere and character. Red Dead Redemption has some of the most beautiful and emotionally charged uses of plot + visuals + music I've ever experienced in a game.
I think I wrote that part while thinking about running around in Thief, hearing the guards call me a taffer. Memories... :)
But yeah, I agree--DX was a mishmash of a game. I liked how it experimented with some FPS conventions, though--it was very cutting-edge from a gameplay standpoint.
Agreed on the Flood levels in Halo--those are excellent, and arguably unparalleled in any other Halo game. I'm looking for stuff like that, to be honest! If I can man up I'll give Amnesia a shot, and what I've seen of Pathologic on YT looks very atmospheric.
I think that's actually a good list moving forward: Amnesia, Red Dead Redemption to cleanse the palette, then Pathologic. Maybe I'll finally get to Thief: Deadly Shadows after that.
>Games that are sparse, minimal, and full of atmosphere and character?
I'm not certain what type of game you want. The obvious suggestions in terms of well-crafted atmosphere and high-quality narrative might be Portal and the follow-on to the above, Deus Ex: HR and Bioshock.
> Games that are sparse, minimal, and full of atmosphere and character?
I'm sure you're familiar with them but all of Valve's first person shooters fit this mold (maybe not minimal...). The Left 4 Dead series especially has the atmosphere down.
Minimal and full of atmosphere?
I would prefer DayZ then (even if it seems it has had its best days,at least as a mod). Never played another game which can be so intense and get you really frightened..
The first Metroid Prime is one of my favorite games. Great atmosphere, soundtrack, and level design. I should get my Gamecube and run through it during the holidays.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is a standout. All the rough edges just make you love it more... when you're not bleeding to death in an irradiated sci-fantasy anomaly minefield.
My guess is ego impacted by fame, Sweeny/CliffB managed to not be quite as personally famous as Carmack and Romero. While I play video games, and recognized Sweeny/CliffB it took a search to place them as the fathers of Epic. I recognized Carmack/Romero without the need of Google.
"... [Cho Chikun] was asked by a Dutch reporter why he loved Go so much. Cho replied 'I hate Go'. He continued saying that it was too tiring and tense for him. This led to his habit of ruffling his hair or constantly moving about." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho_Chikun
There's a glimpse of this in "The Master of Go". The author indicates there are different kinds of Go players—one kind, like Go Seigen, a light, bold, self-assured type that play every move as if they have perfect knowledge that it's the best one possible; the other being a dark type that always seem ill at ease, uncomfortable, questioning every move they make and pouring over their decisions for hours afterwards, like Minoru Kitani and current prodigy Cho Chikun. Strangely, the book brings up this dichotomy and never really classifies the main character, Honinbo Shusai, into one or the other category, mainly implying that he is somehow glacially slow, relentless and insatiable at the same time. Good book.
Frankly, I don't believe Andre here. You can't be the best in the world at something over a long period of time (8 Grand Slam titles, gold Olympic medal, etc. etc.) hating it the way he asserts in his book.
>What is the point of doing something you are good at if it makes your life worse?
Most people on earth are not defined by their jobs. They work because they have to. So he could be doing it for the money. Or the girls. Or the publicity. Or the lifestyle. Or the travel. He doesn't have to do it for the sport itself.
The "do something you love and you don't have to work a day in your life" is feel-good BS for relatively affluent or generally lucky in their life path people.
In any case, it only applies to "likable" jobs: a pilot, a manager, a doctor, an artist, a chef, a journalist, a teacher, a programmer etc. E.g jobs that a lot of people CAN find interesting and fulfilling.
But most of the world goes round by the non-likable jobs. Maybe some people like those jobs too --but they are bizarro outliers. The vast majority of people doing them do not like them.
E.g I don't think many people "love" flipping burgers at a McDonalds, washing dishes, or working 16 hour shifts in a mine, or cleaning the streets from garbage. But they do because they have to --until something better comes along. And a lot of them have kids and such dependent on them, they cannot leave it all behind and go chase some Hollywood dream or whatever.
