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8826
DC Gamer Club / Re: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction - $15
« Last post by wraith808 on November 28, 2010, 08:55 PM »
Note that this game uses Ubisoft's horrendous DRM, i.e.

3rd-party DRM: Ubisoft’s Online Services Platform. Ubisoft requires a permanent Internet connection to play this video game at all times.

The game itself is awesome; I have it on my 360.  But I wouldn't purchase it on my PC for this reason.
8827
Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?
« Last post by wraith808 on November 28, 2010, 11:09 AM »
Ahem...
I just bought an ipad.

Fixed. :)

Which version did you get?
8828
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 27, 2010, 05:08 PM »
Original Post updated for 2010-11-27 sales.
8829
Living Room / Re: Homeland Security Shutting Down Web Copyright Violators
« Last post by wraith808 on November 27, 2010, 04:51 PM »
Still, I can't help wondering why so many countries (other than the USA) manage to maintain better levels of homeland security with only a fraction of the obtrusiveness (and budget) the United States seems to feel it requires.

Are they better?  The reason that the response is so heavy handed, I think, is that the U.S. before now through geography, both political and physical, is relatively free of such attacks.  It's the same with waging war- for all of it's military superiority, when it comes down to it, the U.S. doesn't have the guts it takes to win wars like some others are fighting/have fought.
8830
Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook
« Last post by wraith808 on November 27, 2010, 12:22 PM »
A nice link that explains one of the *big* problems with FB from a social contract perspective.

http://www.wired.com...azine/16-11/pl_brown
8831
Living Room / Re: Homeland Security Shutting Down Web Copyright Violators
« Last post by wraith808 on November 27, 2010, 12:12 PM »
This isn't the start... just the escalation.  And it's even worse than what was already reported:

http://torrentfreak....security-ice-101125/

A good quote from that site:
Homeland Security and Immigration, eh?

I’m assuming a bunch of Latino Hip Hop artists are trying to make their way across the Mexico-US border illegally and they were using RapGodFathers as their own personal 4Chan to coordinate a terrorist attack on Arizona for their new “Pull me over ’cause I look Mexican” law.

Or, DHS and ICE are just a bunch of *******.

And in case you think it's just the U.S. that's getting scary...

http://www.theregist...11/25/nominet_crime/

UPDATE: More info on the actual sites from ICE
http://torrentfreak....ain-and-more-101126/
8832
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 27, 2010, 10:49 AM »
Another one I already have... a physical copy, and a digital copy.  :huh:

The second game is good too.  A few sites to go to make your favorite heroes:
- FxForce, home to a great tutorial by Gryphon
- Freedom Reborn
- Freedom Force Universe
- Freedom Force Forever - Warning, the site might invoke seizures with its terrible design, but it has great info on the child sites.
8833
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 27, 2010, 01:41 AM »
hmm.. EVE's price may have been prompted by Blizzard's sale on WoW. battle of the MMOs, then!
 (see attachment in previous post)
http://us.blizzard.c...10000044,p:110000004

You *had* to show me that, and I *had* to be a sucker.  Especially since I haven't been buying as much from Steam as I thought I would...
8834
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 26, 2010, 11:14 PM »
^ Well, Kane and Lynch 2 (which I was thinking about buying), Alpha Protocol (Which I did buy) and a few others show at their sale price correctly... Alpha Protocol was from Wednesday, and K&L2 from Thursday, so I'm not so sure that they didn't mean to leave certain ones on sale.
8835
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 26, 2010, 12:34 PM »
Original Post updated for 2010-11-26 sales
8836
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 25, 2010, 03:32 PM »
In general, Mmos start out with more content than most single player games, then with the free content additions, they go way past that point, so I don't think that's a fair comparison.
8837
N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Pledge: Dominion Rules Character Creator
« Last post by wraith808 on November 25, 2010, 01:30 PM »
Yeah, I know what you mean.  I've rejected several more ambitious projects, simply because of time constraints.  In fact, I suppose my submission this year is rather self-serving, given the extremely limited audience for which it's intended.  But I find it difficult to find motivation to do a software project unless I have some personal stake in it, know what I mean?  Either something I think my friends or family will use, or that I will use.

I don't think that's unique.  That's the reason I look on here at requests- it gives me ideas outside of my comfort zone. :)
8838
DC Gamer Club / Re: Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 25, 2010, 01:29 PM »
Original Post updated for 2010-11-25 sales
8839
Living Room / Re: Decision making time.
« Last post by wraith808 on November 25, 2010, 12:08 PM »
As far as the MMORPG project, you could start with developing the world and going towards single player in a smaller project to make the engine and such... then move onto the larger project as you get support and help behind your work.
8840
DC Gamer Club / Steam Thanksgiving Sales
« Last post by wraith808 on November 24, 2010, 04:04 PM »
It's that time of year again... I figured as (if) I get the chance, I'll post highlights from the bargains here.

2010-11-29
The last day of the Steam sales for the Thanksgiving Holidays, and it seems to be going out with a whimper rather than a bang.
Beat Hazard - $4.99
- As was said earlier about World of Goo, this also was a better deal in the bundle before.  Other than that, I'm not sure about the game, but I just thought I'd throw that in.

Metro 2033 - $10.00
- I got it from a previous sale for a little bit more ($13.33 if I remember correctly).  I haven't played it, but my reasoning is still sound- solid meta-critic reviews, and good gameplay videos.  If I hadn't bought it then, I would now.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - $2.50
- At that price, I'm buying it again to consolidate my digital collection, even though I have it on Direct2Drive, *and* a physical version.  It's that good.  Of course, it helps that I only paid $2.50 for the other digital edition...

Aliens vs. Predator - $6.80
- If you're not an Aliens/Predator fan, it's a middling shooter, with competent implementation and mechanics.  If you are, it's the best version yet, in single-player, and MP is good too, other than some balance issues.  I bought it at full price, and don't feel cheated now that it's this cheap.

Indie Air Pack - $4.99
- There's some real goodness packed into this pack; I have most of them, and unlike my big budget game purchases have played them (strange how I play indie games before the big budget ones).  They're definitely worth admission at normal prices, and a steal at this price.

Note: There's also the classic Monkey Island, but I don't say too much about this because I've never played it.  Never got into the TPP adventure genre.

2010-11-28
World of Goo - $2.50
-A great indie game, especially at $2.50.  It's a physics puzzler where you build things with ... goo.  It's hard to explain, other than that it's fun.

Splinter Cell Conviction - $20.09 (Also see this thread if you want it even cheaper)
-Another great game- the best in the series to me.  It's even grittier than normal, and that's saying something for Splinter Cell.  I have it on the 360, even though I love this type of game on the PC; it has a form of DRM that's pretty hard to swallow, especially if you live in a rural area like me with an uncertain internet connection.  You drop, and it drops.  In a single player game.  I can recommend the game, but not the DRM.

Street Fighter IV - $10.20
-Another good game that I have on the 360, but this time, because I don't like to play fighters on the PC.  There's already a sequel out, so this is an older game, at least on the console (and that one is going for $19.99 on amazon this weekend).  But it's still good.

Mount and Blade Complete - $10.00
-I only have the original, not the expansion, but I can say that it's loads of fun.  It's a lot different than what I expected, but in a good way.  It's sort of a role playing sandbox RTS type of game; you play one character, but control a band, except for in combat, where you control your character.  It's a great game; I want the expansion, but the way I play games, I figure that I'll wait until it's available separately. :)

The Orange Box - $7.50
-I won't say anything other than if you don't have it, pick it up.  Especially at this price.

The Ball - $9.99
-I have it, but haven't played it.  :-[  It looks like a good game though; for a synopsis see this DC thread.

2010-11-27
Another day, and more bargains.  Off topic, but looking at the bargains, either I spend way too much money on steam for games that I don't play, or there's just not that much selection in these sales.  I hope it's the latter, but I fear it's the former.

Left 4 Dead 2 - $5.00
- At that price, it looks like a bargain.  I have it, but haven't played it yet; I bought Killing Floor a bit before that, and Nation Red a bit after, so between those two, I get my zombie fix.  I should play it at some point though.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - $14.99
- Excellent game, though even at $14.99 it's a bit overpriced since the second one is where all of the action is right now (and Black Ops).  Still, it's a decent buy (I bought it even though I have the physical copy).

Supreme Commander 2 - $3.75
- At that price it's a steal, even though I have it and haven't played it yet.

Galcon Fusion - $2.50
- I have it on my iPhone and it's definitely a cool idea, though it does lose it's appeal after a while.  There's only so much strategy you can fit in when the game is going this fast.  I have it on the PC too, but ... haven't played it.

Laura Croft and the Guardian of Light - $7.49
Laura Croft's return to gaming, and if not triumphant, it's at least not bad.  Again, I have it, but I've barely played it.  I see a pattern forming here...

Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City - $10.20
I don't have this one, but it's the DLC for GTA4, which I do have.  There were raves about GTA4... if you liked that, then I hear that these two DLC are worth the purchase, and are stand-alone if you don't have GTA4.

For the indie pack of the day, we have the Indie Pulse Pack for $4.99.  I have AudioSurf, and have actually played it a bit... it's repetitive after a while, but novel.  I haven't heard anything about the other games in the pack.

2010-11-26
Again, I have all of the good ones, and don't want the bad ones :)  I did figure out that the sales are cumulative, meaning that after the 24 hours, it seems that they are adding sales and the old ones don't disappear.

EDIT: It seems to work that way for *some* of the games.  Probably the ones that don't sell that well to begin with.

Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box - $14.99
- Excellent game, but more for consoles IMO.  I have it, but I play it on my 360 a lot more than on my PC.

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 - $13.60
- Again, and excellent game, and an excellent value.  I've gotten out of the RTS genre, but this one has something special.  But again, I already have it.

Empire: Total War - $14.99
- Excellent game, though getting a bit long in the tooth.  The only area that I continue in regularly in the RTS genre is the historical RTS, as I've always liked wargames, back to ASL and way too much money invested in games by The Gamers.  But again, I already have it.

Those three are the must buys if you don't have them, though the prices are a bit more than most things I buy during these sales, so I'm not sure if I'd go out of my way to buy them at these prices considering the age of the games, other than DOW2.  Torchlight and Machinarium are also supposed to be good; I have them, but haven't played either so I can't really give a recommendation, other than the fact that they're cheap. :)

2010-11-25
The thanksgiving day sales are a bit underwhelming.
EVE Online Tyrannis - $5.00
- I've always wanted to like this, but it seems a bit too much like work.  I want a Sci Fi MMORPG, but I want it to still be a game.

Defense Grid: The Awakening - $2.50
- I've heard good things about this, but I don't like tower defense games

Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition - $10.20
- So good, I've bought it on PC and Xbox 360

Indie Story Pack - $4.99
- Another pack of indie games, this time with an emphasis on story and worlds.  Nothing really catches my fancy though.

Kane and Lynch: Dog Days - $5.00
- I like the story, and the idea.  But from what I've heard about this and the first one, the execution falls flat.  But for $5.00 I might pull the trigger.  I would have definitely, if I hadn't already done the same for Alpha Protocol on the sales yesterday (which is still showing up at the sales price as of 13:20 EDT... strange)

2010-11-24
Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse - $10.50
- Episodic Sam & Max... what's not to like?

The Deus Ex Collection - $4.99
- A very gripping storyline in the first one, and a positively huge world!  The second one falls a little flat, but is still a good ride.

Indie Energy Pack - $4.99
- 5 indie action games at one low price.

Borderlands - $9.99
- Very much a group experience... a shooter with RPG elements.  Get it so I have more people to play with!

There's also a 6 pack for Borderlands, an 8 pack for Deus Ex, and a 6 pack for Half-Life 2
8841
Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook
« Last post by wraith808 on November 23, 2010, 10:42 AM »
You allow your phone to ring?  I keep my cell on vibrate, and my phone only rings for certain people.  Others I get back to when I have the time.  When my wife is at home, it's a different thing... but for my purposes, it might as well not be there.

It's a bit hard to get the phone to vibrate, it's attached to the wall.....I have to wait for an earthquake.

I have a mobile - it's on all the time, (although hardly ever carried), and that's just to receive calls from the property manager.  My wife has a mobile, it's turned on when she wants to make an outgoing emergency call, (car broke down, etc), at all other times it's off.

That's why I use google voice.  When I am the only person at home, that's the only way to get the phone to ring if you're not on my ring list.
8842
Living Room / Re: Still holding out, won't join Facebook
« Last post by wraith808 on November 22, 2010, 11:27 PM »
Probably a generational thing too. My great-grandfather disliked telephones because he felt they were intrusive. He likened them persons who banged on his front door anytime they wanted to ask him something rather than do the polite thing and wait till they saw him in public; or better yet, sent him a letter he could reflect on and respond to at his own convenience.

Good on him!

Phones are intrusive - that's why they make noises demanding attention.

AFAIAC, the only people who don't find them intrusive are either business people who depend on them or people suffering from ADS, (the constant need to SMS included).

The only time our phone rings is when someone wants something, until then everyone's happy to wait until we get together or email.  This means there is more to talk about face-to-face instead of everyone sitting around wondering what to do since they all discussed what bowel movements they had the previous morning via "social media".

I have the same outlook towards "social media" as your ancestor and with any luck I'll never get over it.

You allow your phone to ring?  I keep my cell on vibrate, and my phone only rings for certain people.  Others I get back to when I have the time.  When my wife is at home, it's a different thing... but for my purposes, it might as well not be there.
8843
Developer's Corner / Re: .NET/VS 2008 Debugger question
« Last post by wraith808 on November 20, 2010, 09:04 AM »
So would that give any less veracity to the answer?  Or is that just something that should be noted on the answer?
8844
Developer's Corner / Re: .NET/VS 2008 Debugger question
« Last post by wraith808 on November 19, 2010, 10:17 PM »
No, it was a debug build, with optimization turned off.  It makes sense that to do some of the things that the debugger does, it violates the rules of the compiler, though I never really thought about it in that manner.
8845
Developer's Corner / Re: .NET/VS 2008 Debugger question
« Last post by wraith808 on November 19, 2010, 06:36 PM »
I already did. :) http://stackoverflow...out-of-scope-objects

Someone answered it, and the answer does seem feasible, even though it's mind-boggling.

The really squirrelly thing that's bothering me is the fact that in the code (break and edit) the object shows as null, and you can't access any of the properties via intellisense.  But in the watch window and in the immediate window, you can access all of the properties, and it's of the object that's gone out of scope.  It didn't cause any problems because I was declaring/instantiating it later in the scope, but that shows me that there's *something* weird about it because if it was actually declared the compiler would have complained about the re-declaration.
8846
General Software Discussion / Re: Why the aversion to .NET Frameworks?
« Last post by wraith808 on November 19, 2010, 01:14 PM »
For the cases where MI would be sane in C++, you use interfaces (and possibly composition) in modern languages.

Well, then I must be insane  :Thmbsup:, I am using it a lot and it has saved me a hundreds of lines of code. The multiple-inheritance workarounds cause code duplication or bloat.

Not if utilized correctly.  That's the difference, I think.  It is a different mindset to a certain extent, because you have to think differently to get your work done.  Your design has to be different.  But, after doing it that way, it makes much more sense IMO.  And is definitely a lot more readable and maintainable.  And in the end, especially if you're working on something that someone else created, that's what makes the difference.
8847
Developer's Corner / .NET/VS 2008 Debugger question
« Last post by wraith808 on November 19, 2010, 12:33 PM »
An interesting question about the veracity of information seen in the debugger.

Given this snippet of code

Code: C# [Select]
  1. // Get first key //
  2.             int? keyEDISecurity = this.WorkQueue.GetNextWorkItem();
  3.  
  4.             // Done? //
  5.             while (keyEDISecurity != null)
  6.             {
  7.                 try
  8.                 {
  9.  
  10.                     ...
  11.  
  12.                     // Write changes //
  13. -->                List<ISNLEditableObject> changedRows = this.WorkQueue.GetChangedRows((int)keyEDISecurity);
  14.                     this.Writer.Write(changedRows, WriteFlags.Transactional);
  15.  
  16.                     ...
  17.                 }
  18.                 catch (Exception ex)
  19.                 {
  20.                     string errorMessage = "There was an exception processing KeyEDISecurity " + keyEDISecurity.ToString() +
  21.                         " - " + ex.Message;
  22.  
  23.                     // output error info //
  24.                     Console.WriteLine(errorMessage);
  25.                     EDI.WriteLog(errorMessage);
  26.                 }
  27.                 finally
  28.                 {
  29.                     // Remove all data for the KeyEDISecurity from work queue cache //
  30.                     this.WorkQueue.RemoveData((int)keyEDISecurity);
  31.                 }
  32.  
  33.                 // Get next work item //
  34.                 keyEDISecurity = this.WorkQueue.GetNextWorkItem();
  35.             }

Before the line with the -->, the changedRows is null, as it should be.  It then goes out of scope, as you get the next work item.  You then come back in, and before the line with the --> if you access changedRows, it should be again null, as it hasn't be declared.

If you break and edit, then, as you expect, you can't access changedRows, because it's gone out of scope, and not been declared yet.  If you evaluate it (either by mouseover or using the immediate window), you have access to the changedRows from the previous iteration of the loop.  WTH?

Anyone seen this?  It doesn't affect the program as it seems to act correctly in code, but the debugger issue caused a waste of time since it wasn't behaving as expected.

Thoughts?
8848
General Software Discussion / Re: Why the aversion to .NET Frameworks?
« Last post by wraith808 on November 18, 2010, 09:17 PM »
The hostility towards VB is... probably because the entry barrier is so low. Too many people who shouldn't be programming

There's more to it than that. If that were it, there would be just as much or even more disgust for PHP. It's part of it, but there's more to it than just that. The barrier for PHP is even lower.

The hostility towards VB.NET is the legacy of VB.  I'm having to do some work in VB6 right now.  And it's positively painful.  Especially when you start adding in COM and such.
8849
Unfinished Requests / Re: One word, three dictionaries
« Last post by wraith808 on November 18, 2010, 09:14 PM »
If you wanted to search specific dictionaries then you may be able to cobble something together with a macro to open new tab, then use site:merriam-webster.com word or site:thefreedictionary.com sesquipedalian

The dictionaries I am talking about are software ones, not on-line.

Oh... I misunderstood too.  I was allowing to use the websites; I didn't realize they were software based.
8850
General Software Discussion / Re: Why the aversion to .NET Frameworks?
« Last post by wraith808 on November 18, 2010, 10:54 AM »
Using .net properly is harder than using C++.
I suppose you need to define properly.


* It misuses the C name. How does Ms sell the new VB? It renames it.
Oh, that's flamebait if I ever saw it. Using C in the name is, imho, entirely appropriate - it's a C-based language after all, calling it a VB is really lame.
Agreed 100%.  Comparing C# to VB is like...  I can't even find a good approximation, because they're just not the same at all.  Syntactically it's quite close to C++, and structurally, you couldn't really objectively compare it to VB.

Flamebait +1.
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