Messages

8551

General Software Discussion / Re: Wallpaper Generator

« on: January 28, 2008, 09:47 PM »

I don't see the point of this. Can't you just select your own photo and choose "Use this as my Wallpaper" in Windows?

8552

Living Room / Re: Anyone Getting a Spamalanche Lately?

« on: January 28, 2008, 12:31 PM »

My spam amounts seem to be about the same.

I use Gmail.

8553

Living Room / Re: Find names for old games...

« on: January 27, 2008, 11:10 AM »

Looks like Qix was ported to all kinds of places. DOS, NES, Gameboy, Amiga, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qix

The one I was thinking of was called Cacoma Knight in Bizyland for SNES

8554

Living Room / Re: Find names for old games...

« on: January 27, 2008, 11:05 AM »

By the way, that link to the variants is NSFW!

8555

Living Room / Re: Find names for old games...

« on: January 27, 2008, 11:03 AM »

Jezzbell was a lot better on the PC, not some poor browser-embedded remake.

I think I remember that game you're talking about papoj1. I played it on my grandma's computer or on the NES or something when I was young. But I can't remember the name either. I'll check out those variants and see if I find it.

8556

General Software Discussion / Re: Time to Wipe this Machine! Clean install? Or XP Repair?

« on: January 24, 2008, 02:45 PM »

I agree with mouser on starting from scratch. But I've never used any kind of imaging software so formatting is all I know.

I don't have much more to add other than to second what mouser said.

8557

Living Room / Re: Dreamhost mistakenly bills customers for the entire year

« on: January 22, 2008, 01:42 PM »

Nice.

8558

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« on: January 22, 2008, 01:35 PM »

Thanks Lashiec, that article is very informative!

8559

Coding Snacks / Re: What language is the best for a new programmer to start with?

« on: January 22, 2008, 01:25 PM »

In the past I've often turned to O'Reilly books for learning languages, but as I look over their C++ catalog it seems the only book they have for beginners is C++ The Core Language which was published in 1995. Would a book on computer languages still be useful after 13 years? There's also Practical C++ Programming published in 2002, but I can't really tell if that's a beginner book or just a "now that you know how to program C++, how about we show you how to do it properly" kind of book.

What's a good, up-to-date book on C++ for beginners?

And I'm also interested in hearing your opinions on O'Reilly books in general. The only reason I'm "loyal" to them is because my brother used them and recommended them to me back when I first started coding in 1998 or so.

8560

Living Room / Re: Gamespot Editor Fired for Writing an Honest Review

« on: January 22, 2008, 01:16 PM »

The lynchpin of this latest article is this

with no real transparency into the Gerstmann firing we still don't really know what happened last November

We have no reason to believe that Gerstmann's not hiding something unless he publicly authorizes GameSpot to release all information related to his employment history.

-CWuestefeld (January 22, 2008, 12:17 PM)

I disagree. You are probably right about laws and policy preventing Gamestop from explaining exactly why Gerstmann was fired, but if Gerstmann were fired for inappropriate behavior, why would his co-workers voluntarily leave in the wake of that action? We do have reason to believe that Gamespot (or CNet) is at fault while Gerstmann was just doing his job. Do we have irrefutable proof? No. But we do have reason to believe it.

At the end of the day, the real reasons that a review site publishes what it does aren't important. The only thing that matters is how well those reviews work to direct us to try things that we end up liking. If they steer you toward stuff that you enjoy, and don't let you miss much that you would have, then heed their reviews. If they point you to garbage while missing the gems, then remove them from your bookmarks.

Why do you care if the reviews are underwritten by advertisers at one end of the spectrum, or divinely inspired at the other? As long as they work, that's what counts. If they don't work, ignore the site and let it die.

-CWuestefeld (January 22, 2008, 12:17 PM)

Again, I disagree. The fact is that a very large number of people (perhaps a majority) are really clueless about games. So if a parent actually tries to do their job by parenting, and turns to game reviews to see what to get for their children, they need to be able to trust the reviews. With so many people in the media today touted as "experts" talking about games when to a gamer they are clearly talking about things they know nothing about, I think it's very important that we get as much accurate information as possible.

Just today an article in The Times says that "Xbox is crack for kids" and calls game consoles in general "Satan's Sudoku" as well as claiming (indirectly) that Teletubbies does more for the development of a child than any video game could.

On January 13th, some idiot watched a couple YouTube videos on a game called Mass Effect and suddenly decided to write a blog article claiming (among many other things) it was a virtual orgy allowing players to "hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of." But anyone who's actually played the game--which, to be clear, I haven't--says it takes up less than a minute (and shows only part of a breast) of an over 30 hour game and you have to follow very specific conditions to even fall in love with another character to have the sex scene.

And just recently (not sure on the date) Fox News decided that blogger was actually telling the truth and decided to run a story (link contains news video) with the same details, with an "expert" psychologist and (thankfully) someone who actually knew what he was talking about, Geoff Keighley. Unfortunately they let the "expert" do most of the talking and then only gave Keighley about 30 seconds to try to refute all the inaccuracies. Then they talked among themselves as if Keighley didn't just tell them they were wrong, saying how they'd never let a game like that into their houses because of all the sex and violence.

So yeah, CWuestefeld. It matters to me if a game review is written and scored based on money rather than merits of the game. When I see people in the media like this, I can't help but wonder if the majority of people are actually like that. When people don't know, they'll believe just about anything someone else tells them. Most of my family members would probably believe it, because they don't know better.

And here's a fun story to help my point: One time my sister was flipping through cartoon channels with her son, who was probably 5-6 years old at the time. One channel was showing SpongeBob Squarepants and in that particular part of the episode, he was in his underpants. She immediately decided it wasn't appropriate for her son and told him he couldn't watch it. That's her choice as a parent, and honestly I'm glad she's doing her job of actually monitoring and controlling and, you know, parenting, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. Later she was at a grocery store and she started talking with another woman who mentioned how much her grand daughter  liked watching SpongeBob. My sister told her she thought it was nasty and wouldn't let her son watch it. The woman then said she didn't know because she hadn't seen it, but wouldn't allow her grand daughter to watch it anymore.

The funny thing is later she saw SpongeBob again and decided it was really funny and she changed her mind and there is no problem with it playing in her house or around her kids. But I wonder how many people started "boycotting" SpongeBob because of a misinformed (though well-intended) comment through word of mouth?

EDIT: I started writing this before you added more to your post, so nothing here is a direct response to that, except this sentence I guess.

8561

Living Room / Re: An apology

« on: January 22, 2008, 12:10 PM »

I'm glad to see amends are being made. Welcome back!

Oh, and since we're doing quotes:

Everybody wants a prosthetic forehead on their real head.

-We Want a Rock, by They Might Be Giants

8562

Living Room / Re: Gamespot Editor Fired for Writing an Honest Review

« on: January 22, 2008, 12:02 PM »

So it's not that bad that they fired that one guy, it's bad that all the others who are "compliant" still write for them.

-tamasd (January 22, 2008, 09:39 AM)

I'm not sure. I find it harsh to judge the other writers who are still employed by GameSpot. Sometimes it's easier to do things that are "morally gray" when you need a paycheck to feed your family and pay your bills.

I know you were talking about more than just GameSpot, but even still, sometimes people do things they don't want to so that they can do things they need to.

8563

Living Room / Re: Gamespot Editor Fired for Writing an Honest Review

« on: January 22, 2008, 11:57 AM »

DonationCoder.com is teh greatest site on the intarwebs! 

Now where's my  ?

8564

Coding Snacks / Re: What language is the best for a new programmer to start with?

« on: January 22, 2008, 01:03 AM »

There was also these threads with similar questions :

- https://www.donation...46.msg94249#msg94249
- https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=8094.0

A few books were recommended (by f0dder and CWuestefeld):

"Effective C++" by Scott Meyers
"More Effective C++" by Scott Meyers
"Effective STL" by Scott Meyers
"C++ Coding Standards"

-Armando (January 22, 2008, 12:07 AM)

Yeah I saw that thread, but by the time those books were mentioned it seemed to me that the conversation had moved to books beyond the beginner level and more into advanced.

8565

Coding Snacks / Re: What language is the best for a new programmer to start with?

« on: January 22, 2008, 12:00 AM »

I'd also be interested in hearing more about which books are recommended. Especially for C++.

8566

Living Room / Re: POWDER - A Roguelike RPG

« on: January 21, 2008, 01:19 PM »

Heh heh. On floor 15 or 16 there's a minotaur boss. He probably would have killed me but I petrified him. Easiest way to kill enemies I've found--if you have the MP for it. Then again, you don't gain any xp for petrifying monsters (because they can be revived using a Stone to Flesh spell), so it's more like a failsafe against most of the really hard enemies.

Baezl'bub is on floor 25 so I'm getting close!

8567

Living Room / Re: Making a router biased to a certain PC?

« on: January 20, 2008, 07:17 PM »

Sometimes you can schedule routers to only allow certain IPs at certain times or something like that. But that would mean totally blocking your dad's internet access during the "off" times of the schedule.

8568

Living Room / Re: POWDER - A Roguelike RPG

« on: January 20, 2008, 03:04 PM »

I've been playing the DS version so I couldn't take any screen shots. I decided to download the PC version and give it a little bit of a run for some screengrabs.


It's not much but at least it keeps the stomach pains away... mostly.


Deozaan the master adventurer conquers an insect!


Oops! A fire beetle killed me.

I'm enjoying the game. The difficulty is a mystery to me. Sometimes I'll smash through every enemy I see and then suddenly one enemy will take me out from full health. Not a one-hit kill, but he'll wear me down and I can't get a hit on him or I don't hurt him fast enough.

Overall very fun!

8569

Living Room / Re: Cat on a Dolphin - amazing physics driven flash game

« on: January 20, 2008, 02:57 PM »

Not only is it fun, it's also funny!

8570

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« on: January 18, 2008, 10:37 PM »

Here's one for you:

The developers of the game Crysis have gone through the effort to build a PC for $900 they consider Crysis-worthy:

CPU - Intel Core2Duo E6750
GPU - GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Motherboard - NVIDIA nForce 650i Socket 775
PSU - 600W ATX12V
RAM - 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
HDD - SATA 250GB 7200RPM
DVD - 20x DVD±R Burner
Case - ATX Midi Tower Computer Case
OS - Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2

But that doesn't include keyboard, mouse, or monitor...

http://www.incrysis....ewtopic.php?id=18017

P.S. They just released Crysis patch 1.1 which doubles the framerate on some hardware setups. But the framerate is still below 30fps!

8571

Living Room / Re: Did dual-layer recordable dvd discs ever make it mainstream?

« on: January 18, 2008, 06:05 PM »

I'd use DVD-DLs if the price would just drop!

Also, I think it's a bit of a misnomer to say that you can do on a DVD you can do on half as many DVD-DLs since standard DVD size is 4.7GB and DVD-DLs are 8.5GB -- that's almost an entire 1Gb missing! (4.7x2 = 9.4). That's something that disappointed me as I originally bought a few DVD-DLs  (3 for $15!) to backup my MP3s and I had about 9GB of them and couldn't fit them all on one DVD-DL.

8572

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« on: January 18, 2008, 05:57 PM »

I look only at a CPU when I buy a PC. I upgrade everything else afterwards. The only reason I went single core was simply because I don't want to go multicore yet. I don't see the point. (And I am one of those people that still compares GHz speeds, regardless of CPU type/cache/size etc)

-wreckedcarzz (January 18, 2008, 05:42 PM)

I think your method of buying a PC is flawed, and that's why you end up spending so much later in upgrades. I focus on GPU and CPU foremost, with the knowledge that I can upgrade RAM, HDD size/speed, and everything else later.

As for choosing your CPU, f0dder says it well:

Wrecked, game FPS is mostly tied to graphics card, and program launch speed to harddrive (and possibly running antivirus apps)... so it's not smart to judge CPU based on comparing your pc to your dads on those terms. Do yourself a favour and get a core2duo, even the low-end models are likely to beat the crap out of your celeron d

-f0dder (January 18, 2008, 05:47 PM)

But I feel I should also add that it's not wise to choose CPU by Ghz alone anymore. Think about it. If you have 2 cores (effectively saying 2 CPUs) at 2.4Ghz or just one core at 2.6Ghz, which one will show the best performance? To put it into a more traditional math word problem: One person working at 5 units a second is not as good as two people working at 4 units a second. The result is, in the same amount of time 5 units a second vs. 8 units per second.

EDIT: as f0dder explained after I posted this, it isn't a perfect analogy but I think it gets the point across.

8573

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« on: January 18, 2008, 05:43 PM »

Well I thought the letters meant something. For instance, the Pentium/Celeron M stands for mobile (laptops) and I was under the impression that Pentium/Celeron D stood for Dual core. But I seem to have been mistaken.

If it doesn't stand for Dual core, what does it stand for? Why not just go with Pentium/Celeron 5? Was it a conscious effort to fool people into thinking the D was for Dual Core?

Ooh I just thought of one: D is for Desktop. M is for Mobile.

8574

Living Room / 64 Bit CPU - Is it worth it?

« on: January 18, 2008, 05:39 PM »

I did a quick search on the topic and found that there have been similar threads about 64-bit software, but with so many recent threads about building a new PC I've got to ask: Is it really worth it to get a 64-bit CPU?

In mid-2005 I bought the computer I'm currently using. If I recall correctly, this was before dual core processors were available or else they were prohibitively expensive. I decided to go with a 64-bit processor (AMD Athlon 64 3500+) for that "improved" performance.

Once all my computer parts arrived and the PC was built I very quickly found out that nothing had really been designed for 64-bit CPUs and I was actually an early-ish adopter! To me it felt like the CPU was wasted because though there was Windows XP 64-bit, there were virtually no drivers and no software designed for 64-bit architecture. I was forced to "downgrade" from XP64 to regular old XP just to get my hardware to work.

Now it's 2.5 years later and there's Vista 64-bit, with more drivers, but I still don't see much benefit of a 64-bit system other than the potential to use more than 4GB of RAM. And while the idea of >4GB of RAM is indeed a dreamy dream, I've got 2GB and I'm doing just fine with that.

To get back to the question: Is it worth it to get a 64-bit CPU or would you be better off looking for multicore processors? Or both? Is there really any actual, present, and noticeable benefit in using a 64-bit CPU?

8575

Living Room / Re: Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

« on: January 18, 2008, 05:27 PM »

It's not even a Pentium D, it's a Celeron D. But I thought the D stood for Dual Core?

Why do you want/need so many USB ports? And why do you want to use up every slot on your motherboard? I know it's fun to upgrade computers, but is it really necessary to have something plugged into everywhere?

Your reasons aside, when I build a new computer I focus on CPU, RAM, GPU, and HDDs. Those are the areas you want to spend the most money because most everything else (IMO) doesn't make much of a difference for the longevity of the system. And naturally with all those USB ports in use you'll need a good Power Supply and naturally a good motherboard to handle the high end GPU and CPU. But my point is that I focus on 3-4 things I want and then determine the rest of the stuff I need to be able to handle those 3-4 things.