Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Steven Schveighoffer" wrote in message news:op.wb47llmueav7ka@localhost.localdomain... > > I currently have an HD tube tv which runs at 1080i. The nice thing about > tubes is that standard definition *does* look more normal in it. Yea. They don't make them anymore though :( > But the bad part is that most HD signals are *expecting* you to have a > flat panel. Whenever I watch a sports game, I get pissed that the score > is cut off by my TV because they put it on the exact edge of the picture. > A lot of Wii homebrew actually does that too. Annoying as hell. It's like people forgot what used to be common-knowledge design principles.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 05:37:49 -0400, Nick Sabalausky wrote: "Walter Bright" wrote in message news:jl6a6a$1gh$1...@digitalmars.com... Dudes, get an HD TV. It really is transformative. And yes, it kills me that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. I've seen and used HD sets. Heck, my sister has one (a fancy new one - 1080p of course) and I've watched stuff on it with her. BluRay, HDMI, all the bells & whitles, etc. Yea, the HD looks nice, but ultimately I've never gotten past the overall feeling of "Meh". YMMV, but it *honestly* just doesn't do much for me. Certainly not enough to blow hundreds of dollars on it. 3d. It's worth the upgrade. My brother has a PS3 and just got a 47" HD 3D set for about $1000. Modern warfare in 3d is freaking amazing. I'm waiting for the price to come down so I can get one :) I currently have an HD tube tv which runs at 1080i. The nice thing about tubes is that standard definition *does* look more normal in it. But the bad part is that most HD signals are *expecting* you to have a flat panel. Whenever I watch a sports game, I get pissed that the score is cut off by my TV because they put it on the exact edge of the picture. -Steve
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"so" wrote in message news:tnlksyhbnypfjbybm...@forum.dlang.org... > On Sunday, 1 April 2012 at 21:06:09 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: > >> (L was a fantastic character period), > > L is awesome. > Don't start with characters! Every character in SC and CB is just crazy > for starters. I mean everyone. Yea, they are great. Shinichirou Watanabe is nothing short of a genius. Pure perfection in his work. It kills me that he doesn't have another new series on the horizon (at least to public knowledge, anyway). > Did you watch C-Bebop in English or Japanese? I tend to watch them in > original sounds, this one was an exception. English. For me, "English vs Japanese" varies from show to show (And in *rare* cases I'll actually watch both - namely Kodocha). Generally, I'll start with the English (if there is any), and if it turns out to be bad/annoying, then I'll switch to Japanese. Once in a while a show will come along where I'm genuinely blown away by how incredibly good the English version is: In particular, Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist (And naturally Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo). The *entire* English casts on all those shows did unbelievably fantastic jobs. Even to the point where it's actually worth watching those shows even just for the English voice acting (Which is a wonderful far cry from the days when English dubs had a reputation for being bad.) > Edward with "Melissa Fahn", priceless! > Oh, yea. She did a brilliant job. That's definitely one of the absolute top 3 on my list of "Best-Dubbed Characters". The other 2 would be Laura Bailey's "Sana Kurata" from Kodocha, and Caitlin Glass's "Winry Rockbell" from Fullmetal Alchemist. Particularly Caitlin's/Winry's famous squeal which wasn't even in the original Japanese version. I only wish I could do voice acting as well as they do it and work together on a project. It would certainly beat mucking with HTML!
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Sunday, 1 April 2012 at 21:06:09 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: How could I possibly forget that one?!? Yes, Light's Theme from Death Note is indeed one of the best anime songs /ever/. Come to think of it, it would fit in very well on Marilyn Manson's Holywood album - *and* be one of the real standout songs. I actually have the Death Note soundtrack. Other equally-stand-out songs on it are "L's Theme" (L was a fantastic character period), L is awesome. Don't start with characters! Every character in SC and CB is just crazy for starters. I mean everyone. Did you watch C-Bebop in English or Japanese? I tend to watch them in original sounds, this one was an exception. Edward with "Melissa Fahn", priceless! Funny thing about Bladerunner though, for some reason I just couldn't get into it when I tried to watch it. It just seemed really slow moving and it kinda (dare I say it?) bored me. Maybe it's cause it was the director's cut? I dunno. I've been meaning to give it another try though. Maybe the "Final Cut". Every picture in BR is pure art to me, Rachael, Zhora and most importantly every appearance of Roy. You could just "listen" it for Vangelis (he is the best of best!). Sometimes i think everything comes out of a single idea, everything in a cinema or a book prepares you for that moment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VupxqjTGAyk&feature=fvwrel
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"so" wrote in message
news:vckzoemajryxvrwzc...@forum.dlang.org...
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnIDiLJuuY
I've never even heard of that show before. Definitely a very good opening.
Looks like a good show, too. While I agree with "Can't judge a book by it's
cover", anime openings seem to strangely be an exception: Nine times out of
ten (yes, I pulled those numbers out of my ass ;) ), my impression of an
opening sequence is spot-on with how I end up feeling about the show. Ghost
in the Shell SAC, Death Note, Strawberry Marshmallow, Azumanga Daioh,
Blood+, Pani Poni Dash and various others are all shows I fell in love with
right from the opening sequence, and the shows themselves lived up to their
openings. And then there were cases where the openings and actual show were
both "just ok", etc.
What's really impressive about anime openings/closings though, is that they
really are a whole separate art form in and of themselves. For example,
Naruto's second (Japanese) closing ("Harmonia"), and Inuyasha's 7th closing
("Come"), are just pure artistic beauty. I was completely blown away by
them. Same goes for the openings (and closings) of Cowboy Bebop and Samurai
Champloo. Music videos have *nothing* on those (although I am a fan of Spike
Jones's work).
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RazOfS6mjfw
> ... and many more.
>
How could I possibly forget that one?!?
Yes, Light's Theme from Death Note is indeed one of the best anime songs
/ever/. Come to think of it, it would fit in very well on Marilyn Manson's
Holywood album - *and* be one of the real standout songs.
I actually have the Death Note soundtrack. Other equally-stand-out songs on
it are "L's Theme" (L was a fantastic character period), the title tracks
"Death Note" and "Death Note Theme", "Jiken", "Kinchou", "Senritsu",
"Kodoku", "Tokusou Kira han", "L's Theme B", "L no Nakama", "Tokusou",
"Taikutsu", "Teloelogy of Death" and "Law of Solipsism". That sounds like a
lot, but there's actually a *lot* of songs on the album.
The opening/closing songs are pretty good too. Gotta love that "Maximum the
Hormone" group: Japanese Death-Metal-slash-Ska/Punk. Crazy shit :)
>> Actually, that is insanely long, these would be the tops of the tops:
>
> Indeed there are tons! Too bad my first anime was "Samurai Champloo". It
> is like starting movies with Bladerunner and then have to endure soup
> operas like Star Wars mostly because of addiction (Probably i offended
> most of the interwebs now but that is what i do!).
Heh. :) I see Star Wars as more of an action movie than science fiction
though. And it's pretty damn good as an action movie (though I've always
been more in the Trek camp, myself :P )
Funny thing about Bladerunner though, for some reason I just couldn't get
into it when I tried to watch it. It just seemed really slow moving and it
kinda (dare I say it?) bored me. Maybe it's cause it was the director's cut?
I dunno. I've been meaning to give it another try though. Maybe the "Final
Cut".
There's a fairly recent movie though that's apperently based on another
story by the same author of Bladerunner: The Adjustment Bureau. *That* one I
was pretty impressed with. Sort of a "Michael" meets "Matrix" (And Total
Recall, also apperently one of his, is of course one of the best movies ever
:) )
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Mar 31, 2012, at 1:57 PM, "Nick Sabalausky" wrote: > > Don't know about satellite, but Cable turned to crap about a couple years > ago. It used to be very good, but then they started compressing the fuck out > of everything, and honest to god, half the time it looks like a fucking > MPEG**1**. "Digital quality" my fucking ass. (And and there were even A/V > sync issues!) I have U-Verse now and it's the same way. HD stations are compressed so much that i occasionally even see artifacts. In fact, I often get a higher quality picture streaming from Netflix over the same pipe. Comcast is just as bad though.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Sunday, 1 April 2012 at 06:41:16 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: [Anzen Chitai] Suki Sa (One of the Maison Ikkoku openings) [The Indigo] I Do! (ED1: Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi) [Hitomi Takahashi] Aozora no Namida (OP1: Blood+) [Yoko Kanno] Tank! (OP: Cowboy Bebop) [Origa & Yoko Kanno] Inner Universe (OP: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) [Kaoru Wada] Kagome's Theme (Background Music: Inuyasha) [Dream] My Will (ED1: Inuyasha) [Namie Amuro] Come (ED7: Inuyasha) [Nanase Aikawa] Owarinai Yume (OP3: Inuyasha) [Eufonius] Koi Suru Kokoro (OP: Kashimashi) [Yuumao] Michishirube (ED: Kashimashi) [Isoe Toshimichi & Hosoi Soushi & Fujima Hitoshi] Hiai mo Otome ni wa (Background Song: Kashimashi - I've actually been trying to learn this one on the piano) [???] Panic (ED1: Kodocha) [???] Ultra Relax (OP2: Kodocha) [Rythem] Harmonia (ED2?: Naruto) [Eufonius] Idea (OP: Noein) [the show's cast] Shojo Q (OP3: Pani Poni Dash) [the show's cast] Roulette * Roulette (OP2: Pani Poni Dash) [Suga Shikao] 19sai (OP: xxxHolic) [Minmi] Shiki no Uta (ED1: Samurai Champloo) [the show's cast] Ichigo Complete (OP: Strawberry Marshmallow) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPnIDiLJuuY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RazOfS6mjfw ... and many more. Actually, that is insanely long, these would be the tops of the tops: Indeed there are tons! Too bad my first anime was "Samurai Champloo". It is like starting movies with Bladerunner and then have to endure soup operas like Star Wars mostly because of addiction (Probably i offended most of the interwebs now but that is what i do!).
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
From: "Adam D. Ruppe" > On Sunday, 1 April 2012 at 03:10:49 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> But I tend to listen to non-game stuff more: I'm a total whore for Anime >> opening/closing themes. > > Oh yes. Coincidentally, as I read this, I was playing > the opening from Zeta Gundam! > > Another one I find incredibly addictive is one of > the openings from Tenchi Muyo - "Pioneer" I think > is the title. > Haven't heard that Gundam one (I'm not usually real big on mech animes. I have no idea why.) I have a couple Tenchi ones, but the metadata labels on them aren't very helpful, so I don't know if I have that particular one. One of them's an instrumental. These are my favorites so far (and keep in mind, too, that one of the things that often makes me love an opening/closing song is when a great animation goes with it - Just one of those weird psychological "association" things.) And yea, this *is* a long list. I have a lot of favorites :) [artist] title (show) [Anzen Chitai] Suki Sa (One of the Maison Ikkoku openings) [The Indigo] I Do! (ED1: Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi) [Yoko Ishida] At Your Own Speed (I don't actually know what it's from) [Oranges & Lemons] Raspberry Heaven (ED1: Azumanga Daioh) [Oranges & Lemons / Kuricorder Pops Orchestra] Soramimi Cake (OP1: Azumanga Daioh) [Hitomi Takahashi] Aozora no Namida (OP1: Blood+) [Chitose Hajime] Kataritsugu Koto (ED1: Blood+) [???] Let Me Be With You (OP: Chobits) [Yoko Kanno] Tank! (OP: Cowboy Bebop) [???] Real Folk Blues (ED: Cowboy Bebop) [Excel Girls] Ai (Chuuseishin) (OP: Excel Saga) [Origa & Yoko Kanno] Inner Universe (OP: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) [Kaoru Wada] Kagome's Theme (Background Music: Inuyasha) [Ayumi Hamasaki] Dearest (ED3: Inuyasha) [Dream] My Will (ED1: Inuyasha) [Every Little Thing] Yura Yura (Movie 2: Inuyasha) [Hitomi Shimatani] Angelus (OP6: Inuyasha) [Namie Amuro] Come (ED7: Inuyasha) [Nanase Aikawa] Owarinai Yume (OP3: Inuyasha) [Eufonius] Koi Suru Kokoro (OP: Kashimashi) [Yuumao] Michishirube (ED: Kashimashi) [Isoe Toshimichi & Hosoi Soushi & Fujima Hitoshi] Hiai mo Otome ni wa (Background Song: Kashimashi - I've actually been trying to learn this one on the piano) [???] Panic (ED1: Kodocha) [???] Ultra Relax (OP2: Kodocha) [the show's cast] Cherry Blossoms Blooming (OP: Love Hina) [Shiro Sagisu /Miho Morikawa] Blue Water (OP: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water) [Shiro Sagisu / Miho Morikawa] Yes! I Will... (ED: Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water) [Rythem] Harmonia (ED2?: Naruto) [Eufonius] Idea (OP: Noein) [Solua] Yoake no Ashioto (ED: Noein) [the show's cast] Shojo Q (OP3: Pani Poni Dash) [the show's cast] Roulette * Roulette (OP2: Pani Poni Dash) [Suga Shikao] 19sai (OP: xxxHolic) [Minmi] Shiki no Uta (ED1: Samurai Champloo) [Nujabes] Battlecry (OP: Samurai Champloo) [Yui Horie & Unscandal] Scramble (OP1: School Rumble) [Yuko Ogura] Onnanoko Otokonoko (ED1: School Rumble) [the show's cast] Ichigo Complete (OP: Strawberry Marshmallow) Some of those artists have some other really good stuff, too. Like Anzen Chitai's "Jirettai". Namie Amuro's "Style" and "As Good As". Or the "Abingdon Road" album from Abingdon Boys School (along with much of T.M. Revolution's stuff - one of the members of Abingdon Boys School). Or almost anything from The Indigo (NOT to be confused with Indigo Girls). Actually, that is insanely long, these would be the tops of the tops: [Anzen Chitai] Suki Sa (One of the Maison Ikkoku openings) [The Indigo] I Do! (ED1: Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi) [Hitomi Takahashi] Aozora no Namida (OP1: Blood+) [Yoko Kanno] Tank! (OP: Cowboy Bebop) [Origa & Yoko Kanno] Inner Universe (OP: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) [Kaoru Wada] Kagome's Theme (Background Music: Inuyasha) [Dream] My Will (ED1: Inuyasha) [Namie Amuro] Come (ED7: Inuyasha) [Nanase Aikawa] Owarinai Yume (OP3: Inuyasha) [Eufonius] Koi Suru Kokoro (OP: Kashimashi) [Yuumao] Michishirube (ED: Kashimashi) [Isoe Toshimichi & Hosoi Soushi & Fujima Hitoshi] Hiai mo Otome ni wa (Background Song: Kashimashi - I've actually been trying to learn this one on the piano) [???] Panic (ED1: Kodocha) [???] Ultra Relax (OP2: Kodocha) [Rythem] Harmonia (ED2?: Naruto) [Eufonius] Idea (OP: Noein) [the show's cast] Shojo Q (OP3: Pani Poni Dash) [the show's cast] Roulette * Roulette (OP2: Pani Poni Dash) [Suga Shikao] 19sai (OP: xxxHolic) [Minmi] Shiki no Uta (ED1: Samurai Champloo) [the show's cast] Ichigo Complete (OP: Strawberry Marshmallow) Shit. Still long. Oh well :) > This is one reason I like living alone though: I can > use the speakers for this stuff without embarrassment. > > "are you listening to some weird Japanese song??? > At 1.3x speed???" > > /deal with it/ > LOL :) > > This included some baseball game (baseball btw is a > weird thing. I can't stand watching it. Baseball > on the tv is one of the most boring things I have > ever seen. But, I enjoy playing it, both in the > video game world and in the real world.), That's how I feel about G
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Jonathan M Davis" wrote in message news:mailman.1266.1333244549.4860.digitalmars-d-annou...@puremagic.com... > On Saturday, March 31, 2012 05:37:49 Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> "Walter Bright" wrote in message >> > Dudes, get an HD TV. It really is transformative. And yes, it kills me >> > that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in >> > comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. >> > >> > I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. >> >> YMMV, but it *honestly* just >> doesn't do much for me. Certainly not enough to blow hundreds of dollars >> on >> it. > [snip] > > Personally, I can stand SD less and less, and poorer video quality annoys > me > more and more. But I deal with video-related software for a living, and > I've > transcoded enough video (especially HD video) in my free time that I > _really_ > notice the flaws. There are DVDs that I watched 5 years ago and thought > were > fine that I see now and have a very hard time standing them, because they > look > so bad. There are even encoding issues that I see in blu-rays quite often > that > drive me nuts (especially banding), but that's the best that you can get > at > this point. > > My parents, on the other hand, don't have any HD anything, don't see the > point, and don't seem to care much about video quality at all. So, it > really > depends on what you're used to and what you expect. I've just dealt with > video > encoding and the like in enough detail long enough to get really picky > about > it (my Mother thinks that I'm a snob about video and audio quality). I > don't > have a TV right now (I just watch everything on my computer - 24" 1920 x > 1200 > display), but if I did, I sure wouldn't put up with an SD TV. I'd be > looking > to get a high quality, HD TV. > > But there's no question that YMMV. > I can actually relate somewhat: Compression artifacts, messed up aspect ratios and double-letterboxing (ie, on both top/bottom *and* sides) all drive me absolutely nuts. And it bugs me even more that most people don't even seem to notice. Seriously, how f*ing hard is it to get aspect ratios right? You flag the damn video with its aspect ratio[1], pass it through *everything*, and if the *display device* is physically different, it letterboxes as appropriate[2], and *optionally* crops instead if you really want it to. For non-digital TVs, you tell the tuner-box/cable-box/DVD-player/Game-console/etc., what aspect ratio the TV is and it does the scaling/letterboxing instead. Done! Follow that and *nothing* should ever be stretched, squished or double-letterboxed for *anyone*. But no, everything's gotta be done as ad-hoc, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants bullshit. It's HTML4 all over again. Pulldown/interlacing artifacts and lack-of-vsync tearing annoy me too. Light text on a light background (esp. when it's really tiny text, as they like to do now for some reason - do filmmakers and gamedevs somehow think high resolution automagically makes the screen's physical size larger? Because it doesn't.) Pan & scan conversions of 16:9 -> 4:3. (Not that anyobne does that anymore...do they?) Shaky-cam and rapid-fire edits irritate the *hell* out of me too, but I guess those aren't so much technical issues as production ones. And then there's watching shows on my grandma's ~17", ~30-year-old twin-lead-input TV. Not *that's* a bad picture! [1] And when the content changes ratio, change the damn flag, don't bake in the letterboxing. [2] "Letterbox": Ie, *uniformly* scale the video so that one dimention is an exact match and the other dimention is smaller than the screen and centered. Cropping is the same, just choose the other dimension as the exact match.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Sunday, 1 April 2012 at 03:10:49 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: But I tend to listen to non-game stuff more: I'm a total whore for Anime opening/closing themes. Oh yes. Coincidentally, as I read this, I was playing the opening from Zeta Gundam! Another one I find incredibly addictive is one of the openings from Tenchi Muyo - "Pioneer" I think is the title. This is one reason I like living alone though: I can use the speakers for this stuff without embarrassment. "are you listening to some weird Japanese song??? At 1.3x speed???" /deal with it/ Really? I've played only the first few minutes of all of them and they all seemed very different from each other. Oh yes. They are all different, but take place in the same setting and the events of one contribute to the next. You get a nice sense of continuity, especially in PS4 looking back. Really? Oh my god, you're really missing out. Let's see: Well, I was imprecise - I had played the XBox, but not the specific games you listed. I actually won an xbox in... 2003 or 2004 in a school event contest. I think it was actually rigged, but that's another story. I barely played it though; by then, my gaming days were pretty much already over. My father and brother both got into it though, and bought a number of games that I played a little bit with them. This included some baseball game (baseball btw is a weird thing. I can't stand watching it. Baseball on the tv is one of the most boring things I have ever seen. But, I enjoy playing it, both in the video game world and in the real world.), a fighting game, Dead or Alive (2 and 3 I think), some kind of Tony Hawk, and Halo. And Halo 2, but that was godawful. My brother also played a single player Star Wars RPG on it. Baseball is baseball, not much to say there. A pretty solid game. The Dead or Alive games are ridiculous though. One word: BOOBS. But, they were pretty good for fighting games anyway. Tony Hawk is a nice game. I played Tony Hawk 2 on the playstation (something I'd like to find. I think I still have it, but idk) and I liked that one. The xbox wasn't the same though - I could never get used to the new controller. And then, Halo. The single player is PURE ASS. It just goes on forever and is horribly repetitive. I can't play that. Perfect Dark's single player is awesome. The levels are varied, you have things to do, the story is good enough, and most importantly, it moves quickly enough that it isn't a bother. The typical PD level can be beaten in three minutes. Halo just went on and on. But, multiplayer wasn't bad. It wasn't really *great* either, but plenty playable. I like it. My favorite part of that game though was the title screen. That was just a cool picture and that halo theme song rocked. Now, Halo 2, ugh. So, the single player still sucks... and they proceeded to break the multiplayer too. Take a poor weapon selection from halo 1. Make it worse. Take a mediocre level selection. Make it worse. Take a workable life and powerup system. Ditch it. Gah! Thankfully, my brother agreed, so we always put in halo 1. I don't think I've ever seen halo 3, and I don't care to. Good deal! I actually returned GT3 when I got it though because playing racing games without proper sholder triggers (for gas/break) sucks. I've never even tried a game like that! Holding a button with a thumb is the way it has always been. And the way it always shall be. Although I could do without the pretend-it's-an-extrme-TV-show announcer and the over-designed menus. haha that sounds awesome. I'm reminded of one game my brother had in... oh god, the old house, 1998 or something. It was a wrestling game for the playstation with announcers. Me, being a button masher, had little to no style, and this game actually called me out! "This guy is an idiot! He keeps doing the same move over and over!" that was great. Until they started repeating the same commentary over and over. But haven't you heard? Real is brown: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=222 yup.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message news:vxrvmmiapcbsemhea...@forum.dlang.org... > On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 23:01:32 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> (Although I'll admit, I did enjoy Sewer Shark > > hahhahaha "relax, pretend it's a game... maybe it'll > even be fun. SHOOT THE TUBES, DOGMEAT!" > Games don't have fantastic lines like that anymore ;( Heh, and even the delivery of it is just priceless. > > It's kinda funny when you think about all the craziness > that shapes quirks. At least in me. Every so often, > I think of one of these stupid games and I laugh > to myself, or slip it in to a conversation at random. > > But, it is just a random collection of, often, really > bad things from fifteen years ago. > Heh, yea. I don't care if the whole Inter^H^H^H^H^Hcybertubes are tired of it: I *still* find "All your base"/"Set us up the bomb" to be hilarious. >> - Sonic CD (One of the two best Sonic games ever made, the other being >> Sonic > > Have this one. That was a fine game; the good SCD > games are the ones where they actually made a *game* > that happened to use the sega cd, not a Sega CD thing > that needs to pass for a game. > Exactly. Always felt that way. > Another good one btw is Sol Feace - a pretty simple > sidescrolling space shooter, but just again, a > game that happened to be on the system. > Yea! I have that one too :) > Oh, Mortal Kombat was scd too, and it had full blood > and everything. My copy of this disappeared sometime > in the 90's though, and we never did find it. > Oh, you were one of *those* people... ;) I was always more in the SF2 camp. MK's ultra-violence was great, and I liked "toasty!" and such, but I never much liked the controls. But I'm absolutely rubbish at *all* 1-on-1 fighting games, though. Anybody has *always* been able to kick my ass unless I did cheap shit like choose Chun Li when my friend uses Ken, and constantly shout things like "You were out with that slut Barbie again, weren't you, Ken!!" Only way I could ever win :) Never worked against the CPU though... >> I used to love that song, even >> had...no...*have*...it memorized: > > I think I have the words to... 9 video game songs > memorized. > That's actually a lot as most don't have lyrics ;) > I actually listen to vg music more often than anything > else. > There's definitely some good stuff. The 8/16-bit era capcom is ledgendary for great music. Like MegaMan 2/3, and Street Fighter 2. Guile's theme has always been is one of my all-time favorite songs. And probably the original reason I got into smooth jazz (although I guess it's not exactly smooth jazz, per se, but some sort of jazzy). Actually, there's some really good stuff on OCRemix (a lot of crap, too, though). Some of the stuff by DJ Pretzel is absolutely fantastic. And of course (here I am back with Castlevania again), Symphony of the Night has just the absolute most legendary soundtrack ever. Even the totally-different-style end theme works surpisingly well. Doom 1+2's music, of course, is classic too. And a little-known EGA PC platformer called Space Chase (great game too BTW). And Sonic CD (unlike many people, I actually like the US soundtrack better). I used to sit in study hall memorizing and reciting in my head "Sonic Boom". I could probably go on and on. But I tend to listen to non-game stuff more: I'm a total whore for Anime opening/closing themes. So Yoko Ishida is great. And then there's normal Industrial/Metal etc like TKK/KMFDM/Iron Maiden/Manson (esp. the stuff with Tim Skold - a fantastic musician). And Paul Hardcastle (ie smooth jazz), partly 'cause some of his stuff reminds me of Streets of Rage. I've got strange music tastes ;) >> Definitely a good game. It might have been the first... > > Yes, indeed, the first was on the sega master system. > It was a little slow moving... lots of level grinding > needed. It did that weird faux 3d dungeon thing > that was popular for a bit in the 8 bit era! > Yea. But the whole thing is incredibly impressive for an SMS game. > They set a nice foundation for the story there. > Uniquely, in my experience, they actually have an > ongoing story in those four games. > Really? I've played only the first few minutes of all of them and they all seemed very different from each other. But obviously a few minutes doesn't even scratch the surface. >> I wonder which one that was. Maybe Sonic Generations? > > Maybe... I was just helping his daughter through a > couple levels. She's kinda terrible at games! > Like my sister. She likes Sonic and 2D Mario, but still tends to need help from her two brothers who have spent their lives playing the crap out of such games ;) > But I think that does fit, since it had a time travel > plot going with younger copies of sonic and tails and > I did the chemical plant level for her. > Yea, that would definitely be it. The only other Sonic with time travel (AFAIK) is Sonic CD. Actualy, IIRC, my brother told me that Si
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, March 31, 2012 05:37:49 Nick Sabalausky wrote: > "Walter Bright" wrote in message > > Dudes, get an HD TV. It really is transformative. And yes, it kills me > > that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in > > comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. > > > > I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. > > YMMV, but it *honestly* just > doesn't do much for me. Certainly not enough to blow hundreds of dollars on > it. [snip] Personally, I can stand SD less and less, and poorer video quality annoys me more and more. But I deal with video-related software for a living, and I've transcoded enough video (especially HD video) in my free time that I _really_ notice the flaws. There are DVDs that I watched 5 years ago and thought were fine that I see now and have a very hard time standing them, because they look so bad. There are even encoding issues that I see in blu-rays quite often that drive me nuts (especially banding), but that's the best that you can get at this point. My parents, on the other hand, don't have any HD anything, don't see the point, and don't seem to care much about video quality at all. So, it really depends on what you're used to and what you expect. I've just dealt with video encoding and the like in enough detail long enough to get really picky about it (my Mother thinks that I'm a snob about video and audio quality). I don't have a TV right now (I just watch everything on my computer - 24" 1920 x 1200 display), but if I did, I sure wouldn't put up with an SD TV. I'd be looking to get a high quality, HD TV. But there's no question that YMMV. - Jonathan M Davis
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message news:ywifkafuypvfduunm...@forum.dlang.org... > On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 20:54:49 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> Oh yea, and the set-top boxes themselves don't >> even work right anymore! > > That was *terrible* when digital was new, but wasn't > bad at all when I left (in December). The cable > was pretty good... just /ridiculously/ overpriced. > That would make more sense, but for some reason it was backwards for us. Our area was initially Adelphia, and everything actually worked 100% fine for a long time. Then their CEO, or some other board member or whatever went to jail apperently, and Time Warner scooped us up, and everything just went straight downhill from there. I still find it wonderfully amusing that the known-corrupt Adelphia actually gave us better service than Time Warner. >> That's *cheap* for cable. (Still not worth it though, I agree.) > > Actually, I think I flipped that... I'm paying $55 now > for the internet. (that reminds me, it is time to pay that > again) > > At first, the cable+internet was $90 / month. But, after > the first year, they jacked it up to $120. > > And then, the next year, they jacked it up to $130. So > I was probably paying $75 for the cable. Even worse. > Totally not worth it. > I don't remember our exact numbers, but that sound right about on par with us. Interstingly though, Time Warner was always more expensive than Adelphia. We first got cable w/ digital w/ internet through Adelphia when I was in 12th grade IIRC (Cleveland area - Northeast Ohio). Then two or three years later, when I got out of the college dorms and into a college apartment (Toledo area - Northwest Ohio), *that* area was served by Time Warner and IIRC they were charging something like $20-$40 more than the folks were paying back home in Cleveland for the same service. Then later on when Adelphia collapsed and Time Warner took over, the prices back here in Cleveland started getting jacked up more and more each year (and like I said, the service got worse and worse). > I'm not terribly happy with that internet price either, > but I use the crap out of it and my job relies on it, > so meh. > That does seem about $15 higher than it should be. I'd have to check what we're paying though, might actually be the same these days. I could never go back to dial-up though. Seriously. Like you, I just wouldn't be able to do my work. > > But, speaking of raising prices, this reminds me of a > convo I had with my landlady a couple weeks ago. > > She noted that I've been here for two and a half years > and only jacked the rent once. > > "I've been getting behind on that... I have to raise it > at least 3% a year. The cost of living is going up..." > Wow, what a moronic load of crap! That's why I think people with a < 100 IQ should be institutionalized or at least kept from making decisions that affect other people. > > Yes, the cost of living is going up because YOU are > insisting on raising the rent on some fixed schedule! > Exactly! It pisses me off when people blame things on "inflation". Yes, there *is* certainly inflation involved, but inflation means the money *itself* has reduced worth: Ie, more $ going out *and* more $ coming in. See, going from earning $100 and then paying $0.10 for product X, to earning $1,000 and paying $1 for product X - *THAT'S* inflation. You know, "$100 / $0.10" with 10x inflation == "$1,000 / $1". But that's NOT what we have: What we have is more like "$100 / $0.10 -> $115 / $1". That's not inflation, that's just corporate greed and bullshit excuses. > But, ugh. I hate moving and I hate being in debt, but Yea, same here. > she made the decision for me - I'm just going to buy > a house and be done with it. I hate annual price hikes, > no matter who's doing it. Good for you! (Stick it to the...*ahem*..."man" ;) ). The one thing to be careful with though is maintenance. If it's an older house, sometimes the upkeep can end up costing more than what you'd expect to save (My mom ran into that once). Finances are a pain the the ass, eh?
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 20:54:49 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: Over-the-air broadcast literally looked *better* than that *before* the digital switch! I'm not exagerating. I don't doubt it, though I was on cable for a long time. Oh yea, and the set-top boxes themselves don't even work right anymore! That was *terrible* when digital was new, but wasn't bad at all when I left (in December). The cable was pretty good... just /ridiculously/ overpriced. But PBS is mature enough not to pull any of that crap. yes, pbs is a fine station. That's *cheap* for cable. (Still not worth it though, I agree.) Actually, I think I flipped that... I'm paying $55 now for the internet. (that reminds me, it is time to pay that again) At first, the cable+internet was $90 / month. But, after the first year, they jacked it up to $120. And then, the next year, they jacked it up to $130. So I was probably paying $75 for the cable. Even worse. Totally not worth it. I'm not terribly happy with that internet price either, but I use the crap out of it and my job relies on it, so meh. But, speaking of raising prices, this reminds me of a convo I had with my landlady a couple weeks ago. She noted that I've been here for two and a half years and only jacked the rent once. "I've been getting behind on that... I have to raise it at least 3% a year. The cost of living is going up..." Yes, the cost of living is going up because YOU are insisting on raising the rent on some fixed schedule! And then I asked for all this in writing, and I get a letter in the mail. She changed her mind: 5% increase, effective immediately and going up each year automatically. Hell no, I'm not going to sign that. I find it a little ridiculous that she thinks I would - that's higher than the going mortgage rate! And, unlike this lease, a mortgage can eventually be paid off. But, ugh. I hate moving and I hate being in debt, but she made the decision for me - I'm just going to buy a house and be done with it. I hate annual price hikes, no matter who's doing it.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 23:01:32 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: Certainly is. But *I* grew up on the original SegaCD version :) I never got to play that version... but the song you mention below, oh I know it. Track 9 on the playstation version soundtrack cd. I can't believe I've still never gotten around to finishing either version of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. I need to do that sometime. That's actually on my list too... my brother finished lunar 2, but I never did. But again though, sharing the room means I know it all. (Although I'll admit, I did enjoy Sewer Shark hahhahaha "relax, pretend it's a game... maybe it'll even be fun. SHOOT THE TUBES, DOGMEAT!" It's kinda funny when you think about all the craziness that shapes quirks. At least in me. Every so often, I think of one of these stupid games and I laugh to myself, or slip it in to a conversation at random. But, it is just a random collection of, often, really bad things from fifteen years ago. - Sonic CD (One of the two best Sonic games ever made, the other being Sonic Have this one. That was a fine game; the good SCD games are the ones where they actually made a *game* that happened to use the sega cd, not a Sega CD thing that needs to pass for a game. Another good one btw is Sol Feace - a pretty simple sidescrolling space shooter, but just again, a game that happened to be on the system. Oh, Mortal Kombat was scd too, and it had full blood and everything. My copy of this disappeared sometime in the 90's though, and we never did find it. I used to love that song, even had...no...*have*...it memorized: I think I have the words to... 9 video game songs memorized. I actually listen to vg music more often than anything else. Definitely a good game. It might have been the first... Yes, indeed, the first was on the sega master system. It was a little slow moving... lots of level grinding needed. It did that weird faux 3d dungeon thing that was popular for a bit in the 8 bit era! They set a nice foundation for the story there. Uniquely, in my experience, they actually have an ongoing story in those four games. I wonder which one that was. Maybe Sonic Generations? Maybe... I was just helping his daughter through a couple levels. She's kinda terrible at games! But I think that does fit, since it had a time travel plot going with younger copies of sonic and tails and I did the chemical plant level for her. - Sonic 4: I love this one, despite how short it is. Huh, I didn't even know there was a sonic 4. On the genesis, I had 1, 2, 3, sonic+knuckles, sonic cd, and one called sonic 3d. Oh and sonic spinball, a pinballish game. I guess I had a lot of them! Sonic 3 & Knuckles was one monster of a game. Huge. Really? I thought 7 was universally considered the best one. The internet nerds seem to be of two groups: the ones who say 7 is the greatest game ever made, and the ones who say 7 is an overrated piece of trash that has nothing on 6. A lot of people hate #1 and 8 though, which I don't get. Those are fine games. I'm not sure I've even heard of that scene. Maybe I'll have to give it another chance and try to get to that. omg just youtube it too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgZXiHfNt0M there's more to it than that, but that's the main piece. I guess that's arguably a SNES cutscene... but this one rocks. They also did live versions of the song! Totally amazing. Huh, really? I never new that. If I had, I probably would have finished it. How do you do that? After the training thingy, the headmaster gives you a lamp. Use it as an item, and a demon pops out. If you beat him, you can use it as a GF and learn an ability Enc-Half. After that comes Enc-None. Equip the skill and boom, no random fights. Since you can do this fairly early in the game, you can go through 80% of it with no random fights at all! And since the stats mostly come from junctions, you can get away with near zero experience too - so missing the fights+experience isn't a dealbreaker. I was always more a GameCube/XBox1 guy, but there's some good stuff on PS2: I haven't played any of those... I did somewhat recently finally buy a used PS2 for myself, but barely played it so far. Got Gran Turismo 3 and Madden 2008 for it (for a dollar a piece, not bad!) I played Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 too, and that was a fine game. A solid series they have there. Open-world games are great, but they don't always make for great spectator games. aye. Heh, well, that's more of an "extra little touch" easter egg kinda thing anyway. It looked really good though. My definition of "good graphics" is often "bright, lively colors". That's one reason I like FF1 - you have a good amount of bright green and blue. It makes me happy. FF Tactics too had a lot of cool bright thingies. Too many new things are going with dull, boring colors. Gah. Newsflash people, the real world is pretty bright! You can be realistic and colorful, though the old dra
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message news:evxliildxhaodnbmq...@forum.dlang.org... > On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 06:14:03 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> That's kind of another thing: If I need to be doing work, it's going to >> be >> damn hard if I have a bunch of games two clicks away. > > This is why Windows can kill me... I get addicted to > those stupid built in games. > Heh :) They need to bring back Hover and update it (to be more than, what was it, like 32x32 resolution? ;) ) >> Really? Cool! > > http://worms2d.info/Worms_Armageddon > > There's a familiar name in there :) > Heh, I'll be damnned :) Our Vladimir's been doing a lot of really good stuff, hasn't he? Between that, and DustMite, and some D pull requests. Kudos! > >> It was a short, minor thing like that, but it >> was frequent enough that it just felt like I was >> being really slowed down. > > heh, that's the way I feel about most animations, in > games or not. "get on with it" is what I say. > Same here, word for word. It annoyed me in the Metroid Prime series, too. Every time you get one of the many, many, many missle upgrades and other such upgrades, it *has* to give you a little fanfare and fade in a message box during which time you can't do anything but wait. Every...single...time. Maybe we're just impatient gamers ;) > But, in many of these games, I really like the > background music, which makes it more awesomer. > The phrase "more awesomer" itself is inherently more awesomer than anything. :) > In a game with bad music, everything gets more annoying. > With good bgm, it can take its time, to an extent. > That's why I always hated stuff like EA Trax. "Let's cram our games full of whatever crap the RIAA is currently trying to shovel out. Great idea!" >> Although, I was always more of a Lunar fan > > omg, not every day I see a Lunar fan! Silver > Star Story: Complete is the reason I wanted > a playstation. > > That's a beautiful game. > Certainly is. But *I* grew up on the original SegaCD version :) Both versions are great though. And it is worth playing both, because they are different enough. I can't believe I've still never gotten around to finishing either version of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue. I need to do that sometime. (All the Lunars after that sucked though, which is very unfortunate. Every play "Lunar: Dragon Song"? Trust me: Don't.) > I don't think Working Designs has ever published > anything less than great too. Yup. Working Designs was great. And if you like them, Atlus seems to be the modern equivalent. Actually, that's exactly show I'd decribe Atlus: "The modern Working Designs, but with more games being released." > My first game > of theirs was Popful Mail on the sega cd, and > that was awesome back in the day too. > I never actually played that until a couple years ago. *Definitely* a very good game. I keep meaning to go back and actually finish it. It's kind of sad, there was a lot of *really* good stuff on the SegaCD, but nobody ever knew because they kept pushing the "games" from Digital Pictures too hard, so that's all anyone ever knew existed. (Although I'll admit, I did enjoy Sewer Shark, especially it's over-the-top B-movie cheesiness. And Night Trap is actually kinda clever.) Some of the real standouts on SegaCD off the top of my head: - Sonic CD (One of the two best Sonic games ever made, the other being Sonic 2) - Final Fight CD (The best version of Final Fight) - Lunar 1 & 2 - Popful Mail - Willy Beamish - Silpheed (Very different from the PS2 version, but both are fantastic) - D (Heh, that's right. If the name is "D" it has to be good :) ) - Wolfchild - Puggsy (although this was on Genesis, too) The funny thing about D in particular (the game) is that it breaks practically every rule of good game design, and yet, that's exactly what makes it so fantastic. And not even in a "so bad it's good" sort of way, just genuinely good. (Ermm...wait no...D was on Saturn not SegaCD. Nevermind ;) ) > > Something awesome though: my brother emailed them > to send his condolences when they went out of business, > and actually got a personal reply from Victor Ireland, > the president. I doubt any other game company out there > has such a connection with their fans. > Heh, cool :) > But, what sucks: one of my Lunar SSSC discs is broken! Ouch! One of my Driver 2 discs got broken in college, but I'm somewhat less bothered by that. > But, great game. Those are cutscenes I couldn't get > enough of. > Same here. I had a ritual (and still do to this day whenever I play it) of watching the entire intro song before every play session (Actually, I'm talking the SegaCD version here). I used to love that song, even had...no...*have*...it memorized: --- When all the land is peaceful, And there is no real threat to us at last, Then comes the time for love, Two hearts colliding into one great hymn. But there are winds forboding, And there is a dark storm
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, March 31, 2012 09:30:19 Sean Kelly wrote: > Don't have the HD set stretch the image. Just watch it in the original > format. Personally, I just find that looking at an LCD display is easier on > the eyes than a CRT. Being able to mount it on the wall to get it away from > the kids is nice too. Changing the aspect ratio of an image is downright evil. It distorts the image and looks horrible. I was shocked and horrified to learn that any TVs did this at all, let alone by default, and I have no idea how anyone can put up with it. - Jonathan M Davis
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message news:fheaogseyibtulrhf...@forum.dlang.org... > On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 07:02:35 UTC, Walter Bright wrote: >> And yes, it kills me that my expensive old large screen standard def TV >> is just a POS in comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. > > It might help that I have smaller tv sets. I have a 19" and > a 13", and they have beautiful pictures. > > I don't want to go any bigger than this. I sit right next > to my 13" (I can reach out and touch it right now), so > anything bigger would just be overwhelming. > > I guess I physically could go bigger than the 19 inch, > since there's plenty of room where that one is, but > meh. > My bigger one is something like 27"-31" (ballpark, I don't remember the exact number), and it still looks great to me. >> I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. > > Something that I found really interesting is even > on my old tvs, the new digital broadcasts actually > do look pretty good - better than cable and satellite. > Don't know about satellite, but Cable turned to crap about a couple years ago. It used to be very good, but then they started compressing the fuck out of everything, and honest to god, half the time it looks like a fucking MPEG**1**. "Digital quality" my fucking ass. (And and there were even A/V sync issues!) Over-the-air broadcast literally looked *better* than that *before* the digital switch! I'm not exagerating. And I'm *just* talking SD here! And with what Time Warner charged for that shit quality? And they still expect *more* money on top of that for good^H^H^H^Hawesome stations like NHK. And they don't even show the new local subchannels like Antenna TV or PBS's Create. And then all the shows you're paying ungodly amounts of money for have *overlayed* ads? Oh yea, and the set-top boxes themselves don't even work right anymore! You push a button and they'll literally just sit unresponsive for about 10-30 seconds. Fuck that shit. I've mostly just been watching library DVDs for the last few years, and we even got rid of cable entirely a couple months ago. We don't regret it at all. I actually watch *more* broadcast TV now. The "old show" stations and PBS have such incredibly *better* directing and editing it's rediculous. And none of that drama-queeen bullshit the other networks insist in cramming into *everything*. *Food Network* shows are all drama-queen bullshit and shaky-cam/rapid-fire-editing now! It's crazy, it's like they're *trying* be as shitty as possible! But PBS is mature enough not to pull any of that crap. > I decided to turn off my cable last December (paying > $55 / month to watch CBS, PBS and USA just isn't remotely > worth it, !!! That's *cheap* for cable. (Still not worth it though, I agree.)
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On 3/31/2012 6:53 AM, Adam D. Ruppe wrote: On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 07:02:35 UTC, Walter Bright wrote: And yes, it kills me that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. It might help that I have smaller tv sets. I have a 19" and a 13", and they have beautiful pictures. Not really. I have an ipod with the retina display, and the older one with the low res display. It's a tiny screen. Casually, they look the same. But the retina display really does make a big difference! It's just a lot less eyestrain to read text on it, for one thing. And it just looks crisper. I hope Amazon's next Kindle Fire will have a high res display, if it does I'll upgrade just for that. I'm glad Apple has raised the bar on this. Something that I found really interesting is even on my old tvs, the new digital broadcasts actually do look pretty good - better than cable and satellite. That's because your cable provider is compressing the image, and the over-the-air broadcasts do not.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Sean Kelly" wrote in message news:mailman.1259.1333217864.4860.digitalmars-d-annou...@puremagic.com... > >Don't have the HD set stretch the image. Just watch it in the original >format. Ew, then it'll be **tiny**. Esp if it's one of those 1080p sets (which I think they all are now, right?) It'd be a tiny little postage stamp in the middle of the screen. >Personally, I just find that looking at an LCD display is easier on the >eyes >than a CRT. I'm somewhat afraid of triggering another LCD vs CRT debate, but for me personally, the only time my eyes ever seem to have a problem with CRT is if it's a computer monitor that's set to 60Hz (and seriously, who ever does that?) or i the brightness is cranked up way too high, or if I use that eye-searing black-on-white color scheme that's default on every OS (I personaly think white-on-black is much nicer looking anyway, esp. when paired with blue/purple/pink elements, so that's not really an issue for me anyway - except when using a Mac which, last I checked, didn't let you change anything about the color scheme besides highlight color and wallpaper. But I don't like Apple products anyway, so whatever ;) )
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
Some of the fancier TVs operate at 120Hz and generate interpolated frames to fill the gaps. It tends to cause all sorts of problems and look terrible. Generally renders console games unplayable too, as it creates all sorts of input lag. On Mar 31, 2012, at 6:40 AM, "Adam D. Ruppe" wrote: > On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 09:35:25 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> So blowing hundreds of dollars just so half my stuff looks *worse* and other >> stuff looks (to me) only marginally better? Pass. > > I've seen a few high def tvs. I like half of them, though > not enough to displace my old set. > > The ones I didn't like though are apparently the more > expensive ones. What happens is motion looks really > bizarre on these. I don't know how to describe it, but > watching a show on it just feels... weird as the camera > moves. > > At first, I thought it was because these things are so > big that it was messing with my brain. > > But, I brought this up on another forum and I was told > that's a feature in the hardware: apparently the expensive > sets interpolate frames into regular shows and display > more movement. So, instead of 23 fps, we get, I think, > 30 fps, though I'm not sure, out of the same original material. > > Anyway, everyone insists this is "better" and I think > it is weird just because I'm "so used to seeing shit". > > > > But blargh, I still don't like it.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
Don't have the HD set stretch the image. Just watch it in the original format. Personally, I just find that looking at an LCD display is easier on the eyes than a CRT. Being able to mount it on the wall to get it away from the kids is nice too. On Mar 31, 2012, at 2:37 AM, "Nick Sabalausky" wrote: > "Walter Bright" wrote in message > news:jl6a6a$1gh$1...@digitalmars.com... >> On 3/30/2012 11:16 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >>> "Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message In my house's big room, I have a floor bed: a couple blankets and pillows on the floor, next to my big tv. (my "big tv" being a 20 year old 19" set! I'll use it till it dies. Then duct tape it back together and get a few more years out of it.) >>> >>> Finally! Another person that's not jumping on board the "If flatpanel HD >>> sets are so popular then I guess I have to go spring for one, too" >>> bandwagon! >> >> Dudes, get an HD TV. It really is transformative. And yes, it kills me >> that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in >> comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. >> >> I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. > > I've seen and used HD sets. Heck, my sister has one (a fancy new one - 1080p > of course) and I've watched stuff on it with her. BluRay, HDMI, all the > bells & whitles, etc. Yea, the HD looks nice, but ultimately I've never > gotten past the overall feeling of "Meh". YMMV, but it *honestly* just > doesn't do much for me. Certainly not enough to blow hundreds of dollars on > it. > > And that's with HD content. A lot of my stuff is SD (and will never change > to HD - it's not as if my Wii or XBox1 games/hardware are suddenly going to > start outputting HD), and I've always found that SD content looks noticably > *worse* on an HD set than an SD set, no matter how fancy the upscale > filtering is. The upscaling/filtering artifacts are always painfully > noticable and it just looks like shit. But it looks perfectly fine on an SD > set. 'Course, the old HD CRTs would have been able to handle SD content > perfectly fine, but you can't get those anymore. > > So blowing hundreds of dollars just so half my stuff looks *worse* and other > stuff looks (to me) only marginally better? Pass. > > It's not like B&W -> Color. Just a higher rez. Meh, big deal. When it's > commonplace to have inexpensive HD *with* extended gamut (sp?) and quality > no-glasses/no-headaches 3D, and content to take advantage of all that (and > without getting dizzy from all the shaky-cam bullshit), then it'll probably > be enough for me to care. At one point I went from a 160x160 greyscale > Handspring Vizor (PalmOS) to a 320x320 full-color Palm Zire 71. *That* was a > significant difference. SDTV -> HDTV? Small potatoes, I just can't care. > >
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On 3/31/12, Robert Clipsham wrote: > See also: > * http://wormsng.com/ > * http://worms2d.info/4 > * https://github.com/CyberShadow/ae > > See anyone you recognize there? ;) Aye, CS has been great to the WA community. :) I wonder if Deadcode (another bWA contributor) uses D now too.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On 31/03/2012 07:16, Nick Sabalausky wrote: I hear they are doing a new 2d Worms game, written in D. I look forward to it. (totally on topic now :P) Really? Cool! See also: * http://wormsng.com/ * http://worms2d.info/4 * https://github.com/CyberShadow/ae See anyone you recognize there? ;) -- Robert http://octarineparrot.com/
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 06:14:03 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: Like the AV cords: For fuck's sake, what's with the proprietary AV connectors? What really gets me there is the old playstation used to have regular rca jacks. They removed it from the design about the same time they brought out the dual shock. Similarly, the model 1 Genesis used the same rf adapter as the NES and SNES... but they changed it for the model 2. Annoying! That's kind of another thing: If I need to be doing work, it's going to be damn hard if I have a bunch of games two clicks away. This is why Windows can kill me... I get addicted to those stupid built in games. And Windows Vista threw a Chess game on top of it. Gah! (nice game though, it has a good sliding difficulty setup to keep it going.) Really? Cool! http://worms2d.info/Worms_Armageddon There's a familiar name in there :) It was a short, minor thing like that, but it was frequent enough that it just felt like I was being really slowed down. heh, that's the way I feel about most animations, in games or not. "get on with it" is what I say. But, in many of these games, I really like the background music, which makes it more awesomer. In a game with bad music, everything gets more annoying. With good bgm, it can take its time, to an extent. Although, I was always more of a Lunar fan omg, not every day I see a Lunar fan! Silver Star Story: Complete is the reason I wanted a playstation. That's a beautiful game. I don't think Working Designs has ever published anything less than great too. My first game of theirs was Popful Mail on the sega cd, and that was awesome back in the day too. It made me sad when they went out of business, but it was probably inevitable. A company that insists on going above and beyond on every release will just get swamped in the game environment today. Something awesome though: my brother emailed them to send his condolences when they went out of business, and actually got a personal reply from Victor Ireland, the president. I doubt any other game company out there has such a connection with their fans. I love them <3 But, what sucks: one of my Lunar SSSC discs is broken! My sister stole it one day and was playing it instead of doing her chores. So my mother took the game away and threw it out. I retrieved it, but the disc had chipped. That was the *hardest* game for me to acquire. I'll probably never replace the physical disc now, and am stuck on the emulator. Gah. But, great game. Those are cutscenes I couldn't get enough of. While I'm talking about great games, another good one is Phantasy Star IV on the Genesis. II and III were ok too, but they moved too slowly. Literally, the character walking speed was abysmal. But, IV bumped up the speed big time, and it was amazing. I hate the way "phantasy star" now refers to some shitty MMORPG though. Fuck that noise, the Genesis is where it's at. Actually, that reminds me, have you seen that YouTube video of Sonic 2006's hub-world "gameplay"? Nay, but a friend bought some sonic game for the PS3 recently. I played it Wednesday, actually. The loading was annoying, but only at the start of a stage, so not disruptive to most the play. What got me though was the bizarre 3d stuff and seemingly sluggish controls. It was the same levels from Sonic 2, but it felt slow and unresponsive in comparison to the original. idk though, I haven't played the original for a long, long time. So I don't think I've ever managed to get more than a couple hours into those. People call me a heretic for this, but I say FFs 1, 7, and 8 are the best of that bunch (and FF Tactics on the Playstation mixed in there too). The SNES ones were ok, but I didn't love them. Yes, FF6 has the opera scene. Yes, it is amazing. But the rest of it? eh, certainly not bad, but not all that great either. In the PSX era, I was more into PC gaming and didn't have a PSX, so I got the PC FF7. I've heard nothing but bad things about the PC versions. Never played it myself, but I'm told it was slow, buggy, and annoying... I realized I was only playing it to see what happens and was genuinely dreading/rushing-through the battles I put 8 among the top for a few reasons: 1) I liked the story and the main character. People call me a heretic for this too, but "then go talk to a wall", I cheered that line! That was sexual harassment, and Squall didn't have to take it. Just generally though, 8 has a fine story. 2) Enc-None. You can turn off most the fights and just fly through the game if you want too. 3) I liked the stat twiddling too. Spend a few minutes in preparation on the junction screen and you turn your characters into gods. That's part of the reason I play those games... to play god. So win. 4) I liked the card minigame too. It isn't perfect, but it checks the big boxes in jrpg for me. Never tried 9. Played a demo or two of FF10, and thought "meh", and I guess I've kinda given up
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 07:02:35 UTC, Walter Bright wrote: And yes, it kills me that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. It might help that I have smaller tv sets. I have a 19" and a 13", and they have beautiful pictures. I don't want to go any bigger than this. I sit right next to my 13" (I can reach out and touch it right now), so anything bigger would just be overwhelming. I guess I physically could go bigger than the 19 inch, since there's plenty of room where that one is, but meh. I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. Something that I found really interesting is even on my old tvs, the new digital broadcasts actually do look pretty good - better than cable and satellite. I decided to turn off my cable last December (paying $55 / month to watch CBS, PBS and USA just isn't remotely worth it, and they wanted to raise prices again. I can get CBS+PBS off the air, and for the money I was throwing at the cable company, I could buy every dvd the usa network puts out and still come out ahead!). Anyway, after turning it off, I got one of those digital tv converter boxes and hooked up my old antenna to it. And the picture was actually really good. PBS on cable, including the HD channel, was a little fuzzy in comparison. I never noticed it before, but for the brief time that I had both, I could switch between cable and antenna and see a clear difference. The air version was a lot better. Tried CBS... same deal. Better picture on broadcast, even through my old tvs. I tried it at a friend's house too, on their hdtv with satellite. The satellite picture for PBS looked outright *bad* on their big television. But the broadcast one was beautiful. Big difference on the computer generated shows (Dinosaur Train especially). While I miss the USA network, I don't miss cable. I have a better picture and a much smaller bill over the air. And best of all, not having USA to fall back to, I got a new appreciation for some old shows on channels I wouldn't have watched before... I now watch "Seinfeld", and I love it!
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 09:35:25 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: So blowing hundreds of dollars just so half my stuff looks *worse* and other stuff looks (to me) only marginally better? Pass. I've seen a few high def tvs. I like half of them, though not enough to displace my old set. The ones I didn't like though are apparently the more expensive ones. What happens is motion looks really bizarre on these. I don't know how to describe it, but watching a show on it just feels... weird as the camera moves. At first, I thought it was because these things are so big that it was messing with my brain. But, I brought this up on another forum and I was told that's a feature in the hardware: apparently the expensive sets interpolate frames into regular shows and display more movement. So, instead of 23 fps, we get, I think, 30 fps, though I'm not sure, out of the same original material. Anyway, everyone insists this is "better" and I think it is weird just because I'm "so used to seeing shit". But blargh, I still don't like it.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Walter Bright" wrote in message news:jl6a6a$1gh$1...@digitalmars.com... > On 3/30/2012 11:16 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> "Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message >>> In my house's big room, I have a floor bed: a couple >>> blankets and pillows on the floor, next to my big tv. >>> (my "big tv" being a 20 year old 19" set! I'll use it till >>> it dies. Then duct tape it back together and get a few more >>> years out of it.) >>> >> >> Finally! Another person that's not jumping on board the "If flatpanel HD >> sets are so popular then I guess I have to go spring for one, too" >> bandwagon! > > Dudes, get an HD TV. It really is transformative. And yes, it kills me > that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in > comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. > > I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore. I've seen and used HD sets. Heck, my sister has one (a fancy new one - 1080p of course) and I've watched stuff on it with her. BluRay, HDMI, all the bells & whitles, etc. Yea, the HD looks nice, but ultimately I've never gotten past the overall feeling of "Meh". YMMV, but it *honestly* just doesn't do much for me. Certainly not enough to blow hundreds of dollars on it. And that's with HD content. A lot of my stuff is SD (and will never change to HD - it's not as if my Wii or XBox1 games/hardware are suddenly going to start outputting HD), and I've always found that SD content looks noticably *worse* on an HD set than an SD set, no matter how fancy the upscale filtering is. The upscaling/filtering artifacts are always painfully noticable and it just looks like shit. But it looks perfectly fine on an SD set. 'Course, the old HD CRTs would have been able to handle SD content perfectly fine, but you can't get those anymore. So blowing hundreds of dollars just so half my stuff looks *worse* and other stuff looks (to me) only marginally better? Pass. It's not like B&W -> Color. Just a higher rez. Meh, big deal. When it's commonplace to have inexpensive HD *with* extended gamut (sp?) and quality no-glasses/no-headaches 3D, and content to take advantage of all that (and without getting dizzy from all the shaky-cam bullshit), then it'll probably be enough for me to care. At one point I went from a 160x160 greyscale Handspring Vizor (PalmOS) to a 320x320 full-color Palm Zire 71. *That* was a significant difference. SDTV -> HDTV? Small potatoes, I just can't care.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On 3/30/2012 11:16 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote: "Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message In my house's big room, I have a floor bed: a couple blankets and pillows on the floor, next to my big tv. (my "big tv" being a 20 year old 19" set! I'll use it till it dies. Then duct tape it back together and get a few more years out of it.) Finally! Another person that's not jumping on board the "If flatpanel HD sets are so popular then I guess I have to go spring for one, too" bandwagon! Dudes, get an HD TV. It really is transformative. And yes, it kills me that my expensive old large screen standard def TV is just a POS in comparison, even though it is in perfect working order. I can't even stand to watch standard def anymore.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message news:vcadggwxsbxhdkjhr...@forum.dlang.org... > On Friday, 30 March 2012 at 22:43:00 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> But that would *never* happen under US-style IP law. > > You know what's funny: I used to use an Atari ac adapter > for my Sega. (still do, when I actually use the thing) > > The Internet tells me that Sega controllers work in > Ataris too! > > Accidental compatibility there! > Yea, that was before the suits smelled money in the games direction, invaded, and decided "What's with all this oppenness bullcrap? LOCK THAT SHIT DOWN! Rope 'em in and lock 'em in!" Like the AV cords: For fuck's sake, what's with the proprietary AV connectors? DVD players (even small ones) get by fine without that bullshit: They could easily have gone with proprietary conectors on the device end like the game companies do. But they're not actually asinine enough to do it. > > My computer chair is probably the nicest furniture I own... > In my house's big room, I have a floor bed: a couple > blankets and pillows on the floor, next to my big tv. > (my "big tv" being a 20 year old 19" set! I'll use it till > it dies. Then duct tape it back together and get a few more > years out of it.) > Finally! Another person that's not jumping on board the "If flatpanel HD sets are so popular then I guess I have to go spring for one, too" bandwagon! > > Besides it's just that I always feel like I *should* be working, > or at least available in case something comes up, > and if I'm sitting at the computer, at least I can pretend > to be... > That's kind of another thing: If I need to be doing work, it's going to be damn hard if I have a bunch of games two clicks away. I'm both tongue-in-cheek and totally serious on that :) > > BTW, Worms 2, now there's a great game. Yea, I've always like Worms. That's a good one. I grew up with the original Worms though, so the changes in Worms 2 took some getting used to: The cartoon worms, the new voices, the lack of scaling (the kids call it "zooming" these days ;) ). Got used to it though, and it's very good. Another fantastic turn-based strategy is Moonbase Commander. Super under-appreciated. > I hear they are > doing a new 2d Worms game, written in D. I look forward > to it. (totally on topic now :P) > Really? Cool! >> I doubt I >> would have ever gotten all the way through Chrono Trigger if it weren't >> for that feature. > > huh, Chrono Trigger moves pretty quickly. I don't mind it > at regular speed at all. > I'm trying to remember what it was that felt really slow to me...It's been awhile since I played it, but I think it *might* have been fanfare at the end of each battle...? Something like that anyway. It was a short, minor thing like that, but it was frequent enough that it just felt like I was being really slowed down. > Unless you were playing the AWFUL playstation version. The > super nintendo one was pretty well paced. The events moved > along quickly, the characters moved at a good speed, > and most importantly, NO LOAD TIME. > No, it was definitely the SNES one. Aside from active time battle (which I've never liked in any of Square's games that used it), it's certainly not a bad game overall. Quite good, really. Although, I was always more of a Lunar fan, even if the battle system wasn't quite as polished as Chrono Trigger's. > > What the /hell/. I know the playstation wasn't exactly > the beefiest hardware ever made, but come on. > Yea, constant loading sucks. Actually, that reminds me, have you seen that YouTube video of Sonic 2006's hub-world "gameplay"? Pretty much exactly like you describe: contant (slow) re-loading for at every trivial step...Except it's on the 360/PS3. No doubt that must have been a real rush-job. > > Since I'm talking about final fantasy, I played their playstation > games to, #7, 8, and 9. I've played 7 and 8 more than once, but > haven't gotten myself to try 9 again (despite it sitting next > to me for years now. Seriously, I can reach it right now!) > You know, I've always had mixed feelings about square. I've always liked JRPGs, especially 16-bit ones, and square's have always had top-notch storytelling and presentation, but there's always been one reason or another that I never got far with any of them, despite beating other JRPGs like Lunar (multiple times, on both SegaCD and PSX). The SNES Final Fantasy's seem right up my alley, being 16-bit JRPG and all (and I have a couple of them on PSX), but the active time battle just makes it really difficult for me to want to stick with it enough to get anywhere. So I don't think I've ever managed to get more than a couple hours into those. In the PSX era, I was more into PC gaming and didn't have a PSX, so I got the PC FF7. Not long after I got to the overworld map (roughly disc 2? After Aeris is kidnapped, but before...uhh...you discover her ultimate fate - does that even *count* as a spoiler anymore? *Did* it ever? ;)
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Bernard Helyer" wrote in message news:jiioyfihtaqhpjafg...@forum.dlang.org... >> Eeewww, I hate playing games on a PC: >> >> - Too many other processes to screw up the experience. > > Maybe if you were basing your experiences off of Windows 95. > Actually, it was pretty good back then, I'm thinking more the past 10 years. There's too much background crap that's always running now, not to mention programs completely hoarding as many resoruces and CPU power as the possibly can. Back with 95/98, there were what, three basic processes that were always running? I used to even have them memorized. Now it's probably around 10x times that, plus god-knows how many services, and half of it's all written in a "the hell with efficiency" style. >> >> - I spent sooo many hours every day *working* at the computer desk, I >> *don't* want to be be glued to it for my entertainment, too. >> >> - Even if I didn't use a PC for work, for my entertainment, I'd still >> much >> rather use a nice comfortable living room couch/TV/environment than a >> computer desk anyway > > Fair enough. You can hook PCs up to a TV though, of course. > Yea, and I can replace my car's steering wheel with a one of those big wooden things things they used to use on boats ;) My point being, yes, it's technically doable, but to make it work *well* is too much of a DIY project. (Plus it's not really doable for me since the shithole I've got here has knob-and-tube wiring pretty much everywhere but my computer desk, so nothing three-prong will work in the living room, so it'd have to be a laptop). Something like a softmodded Wii, OTOH, is cheap, quick, easy, and has great results. (*Really* looking forward to the Raspberry Pi, though.) > . >> >> - Plus the non-indie commercial games come with rootkits and the >> requirement > > Lose the hyperbole. :P > There's no hyperbole there. PC gaming DRMs have been *known* to be implemented as rootkits. That's plain fact. That's one of the reasons people pirate PC games they've already legitimately bought - because it doesn't have DRM, and therefore doesn't go screwing around with their kernel. >> of buying new hardware twice a year. No thanks. > > Oh please. The hardware requirements have basically been static because of > the age of the current consoles. > Even if that's true, it's too little, too late. Once bitten, twice shy.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
On Friday, 30 March 2012 at 22:43:00 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: Oh *definitely*. BTW, Wii homebrew is *fantastic* for that. I don't have one of those thingys though. But that would *never* happen under US-style IP law. You know what's funny: I used to use an Atari ac adapter for my Sega. (still do, when I actually use the thing) The Internet tells me that Sega controllers work in Ataris too! Accidental compatibility there! - I spent sooo many hours every day *working* at the computer desk This is one reason why I actually like staying at the computer: I can keep an eye on my email in the corner. I often tell people I have to get back to the computer so I can pretend to work for a while. They laugh - I work via the internet, so I don't have to *pretend*, since there's no one there to see it. Of course, often I actually do work and just don't want to admit it. But, sometimes I actually do pretend. The way I do that is by keeping the email window open and answering requests, bugs, etc. as a kind of low priority process. When they interrupt me, I'll handle it, then get back to what I was otherwise doing. Thus, pretending to work. It looks like I'm on top of things, in reality, I'm goofing off on the video game, a side project, the television, or the newsgroup or whatever. Parking my butt in the computer chair means I can do all that, and I keep the game in a corner window on the screen, so I can see everything else going on too. - Even if I didn't use a PC for work, for my entertainment, I'd still much rather use a nice comfortable living room couch/TV/environment My computer chair is probably the nicest furniture I own... In my house's big room, I have a floor bed: a couple blankets and pillows on the floor, next to my big tv. (my "big tv" being a 20 year old 19" set! I'll use it till it dies. Then duct tape it back together and get a few more years out of it.) Anyway, the floor bed is brilliant, but I like my chair too. Besides it's just that I always feel like I *should* be working, or at least available in case something comes up, and if I'm sitting at the computer, at least I can pretend to be... - Plus the non-indie commercial games come with rootkits and the requirement of buying new hardware twice a year. No thanks. Eh, I just stick to the old stuff. The newest computer game I've played is either Starcraft or Worms. BTW, Worms 2, now there's a great game. I hear they are doing a new 2d Worms game, written in D. I look forward to it. (totally on topic now :P) I doubt I would have ever gotten all the way through Chrono Trigger if it weren't for that feature. huh, Chrono Trigger moves pretty quickly. I don't mind it at regular speed at all. Unless you were playing the AWFUL playstation version. The super nintendo one was pretty well paced. The events moved along quickly, the characters moved at a good speed, and most importantly, NO LOAD TIME. A friend of mine years ago liked my super nintendo version and saw a playstation port come out. He bought it. And I couldn't even look at it. It took literally *minutes* to load the initial game, and several full seconds to do stuff in the game! In the original one, you bump into a monster, and instantly, swords come out, the music changes, and you can hold in the button to get it over with. In the playstation one, you move... it pauses to load. You finally bump into the monster. It STOPS THE WORLD, seeks the disc, finally the music changes, wait a bit longer, and FINALLY the swords come out. Don't use the magic though, it will have to load some more. Fucking unbearable. You'd think they would cache this or something. Nope. Go to the next screen, bump a monster... and WAIT AGAIN. What the /hell/. I know the playstation wasn't exactly the beefiest hardware ever made, but come on. Ironically, they also bundled final fantasy 4 in that same sale, and this one was bearable. (I actually bought this disc from him.) It took great aeons to initially load, but once you got started, it played normally. You could even take the CD out for the most part and still play it, proving they loaded the whole game into memory up front. Actually, it was pretty good. How could they do a good job on one game, but so horribly drop the ball on a similar game that came in the /same box/? Ridiculous. Since I'm talking about final fantasy, I played their playstation games to, #7, 8, and 9. I've played 7 and 8 more than once, but haven't gotten myself to try 9 again (despite it sitting next to me for years now. Seriously, I can reach it right now!) I didn't love 9 the first time I played it, but I went into it with a bad attitude too - my dad paid the full $40 for it instead of waiting a year for it to drop to $20. That annoyed the crap out of me. Now I'm more angry that I was so rude about it than anything else; he tried to get a fancy expensive christmas present, and my response was not nice at all. Aaaanyway, two objective compl
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
Eeewww, I hate playing games on a PC: - Too many other processes to screw up the experience. Maybe if you were basing your experiences off of Windows 95. - I spent sooo many hours every day *working* at the computer desk, I *don't* want to be be glued to it for my entertainment, too. - Even if I didn't use a PC for work, for my entertainment, I'd still much rather use a nice comfortable living room couch/TV/environment than a computer desk anyway Fair enough. You can hook PCs up to a TV though, of course. . - Plus the non-indie commercial games come with rootkits and the requirement Lose the hyperbole. :P of buying new hardware twice a year. No thanks. Oh please. The hardware requirements have basically been static because of the age of the current consoles.
Re: video games (was Re: UFCS for D)
"Adam D. Ruppe" wrote in message news:ftnddrqdfbrtxiiwe...@forum.dlang.org... > On Friday, 30 March 2012 at 21:03:21 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote: >> Problem is, it also corrodes the connectors. > > Yea. But oh well, it can't be too bad... my old games > all still work! > > Though, nowadays I tend to prefer the emulators. Oh *definitely*. BTW, Wii homebrew is *fantastic* for that. It literally turns the Wii into a (very good) set-top multi-emulator device. And many of the Wii-hosted homebrew emulators are *very* good now. *FAR* better than the half-assed Virtual Console stuff. > I have > a playstation controller on usb, which works for all > the old games naturally (there's a clear progression > from nes -> super nintendo -> playstation, each is a > superset of the next. It works well for Sega too.) > Yea. This gets into one thing I *love* about China's unwillingless to play by the US rules: Thanks to Hong Kong, I have an inexpensive device that lets me use a PS2 controller on PC *AND* GameCube *AND* XBox1 (And on Wii, for the few games that are actually intelligent nough to allow GC controllers as an alternative to the piece of crap "Classic Controller"). I love this thing. But that would *never* happen under US-style IP law. Playing by US rules, you're not allowed to have the *basic consumer choice* of using whatever the fuck controller you want with whatever the fuck system you want. China *allows* such consumer choice. Yup: China being *more* free than the corporate-owned US. Go figure. > No hardware hassles, doesn't take space under the tv. > I used to have a real mess of crap in my bedroom, the > cords were hideous. Now most of that is on the computer. > Eeewww, I hate playing games on a PC: - Too many other processes to screw up the experience. - I spent sooo many hours every day *working* at the computer desk, I *don't* want to be be glued to it for my entertainment, too. - Even if I didn't use a PC for work, for my entertainment, I'd still much rather use a nice comfortable living room couch/TV/environment than a computer desk anyway. - Plus the non-indie commercial games come with rootkits and the requirement of buying new hardware twice a year. No thanks. > The computer can also crank up the speed, which makes > some of those old games so much more playable! I can't > believe I used to sit there 10 hours a day and just > grind or use the slow moving characters. Some of the Wii-hosted homebrew emulators will do that too :) I doubt I would have ever gotten all the way through Chrono Trigger if it weren't for that feature. >> I *liked* that the N64 used carts > > I have only one game for the N64: Perfect Dark. Bought > the game when I saw it at one of the stores and picked > up the system like a month later. > > Great game, still my favorite of the FPS genre. Yea, this is a pretty good one. Another one of my favs in Conker's Bad Fur Day. You play a cute little furry squirrel, and then you do things like get drunk so you can kill flame-based enemies by staggering around and pissing on them :) Fantastically "wrong" and great gameplay. It's a Rare game from back when Rare was actually still good. Actually paid $80 for that fucking game, but never regretted it.
