Well, let's see!

First test, there are infinite whole numbers. Are there as many even whole numbers (2,4,6,8) as there are both even and odd whole numbers?

Both are infinite, so you'd have to conclude "yes". After all, name any whole number you can think of and I can give you an even number to match it "set for set". I'll just double your number!

You: 1
Me: 2
U 4!
M 8!
U 8
M 16
U 10000000
M 20000000
U -5
M -10
U Infinity
M Infinityx2

I'll match every unique natural number you come up with with an even number, EVERY one! It won't stop!

But, that just doesn't SEEM right does it? By all rights, the number of even numbers should be "half of infinite" or something, shouldn't it? Or, are there greater and lesser infinite sets? Seems more likely, but how defined? How about definining them by their limitations? Yes, infinite sets can have limits. The infinite set of even numbers is limited to even numbers for example. Odd numbers are absent, and yet it is still infinite.

Next riddle: is .9999~ < 1?

Same issue, that number gets closer and closer to 1 forever. Any single number you can ever list, that number will beat it. There is no "in between" number you can ever name. The only time this stops is when you name "1", so that's it's limit.

So... .999~ = 1

So then, why did I bring this up? Well, for those of you that already knew this, and I know anyone who's taken a decent math class does, never mind this. This is for a couple people who in the past didn't seem to get that infinity can have limits.

http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?t...ge=2&pp=50

This may have been posted but...I haven't seen it ;)

Source: <a href="http://www.planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6721">Planet GameCube</a>

Quote:<b>A survey reveals proposed plans for Revolution's retro gaming features. Preliminary games list inside!<b>

Nintendo (through a third party) is conducting a closed survey on its Virtual Console feature for the Revolution—more specifically, proposed pricing and menu schemes. <a href="http://joystiq.com/2006/01/10/nintendo-conducts-virtual-console-service-survey/">Joystiq </a>reports details and screen captures of the survey.

Although reported content merely shows what Nintendo is considering, it is still worth noting. Three pricing schemes are proposed: purchase, rental and subscription. Gamers may pay a one-time price and download and own the game forever. Alternatively, they may rent a single game for a specified period. Finally, a monthly subscription would allow players to download a specified number of games each month—games downloaded prior months will continue to be playable (as long as Nintendo continues to get its monthly money). The images themselves are mock-ups for the survey and do not reflect the service's actual look.

Specific pricing apparently was not mentioned, but Joystiq has listed titles the survey listed as likely to be available at launch.

# NES Balloon Fight
# Baseball
# Donkey Kong
# Donkey Kong Jr.
# Dr. Mario
# Duck Hunt
# Excitebike
# Hogan's Alley
# Ice Climber
# Ice Hockey
# Kid Icarus
# Kirby
# Kung Fu
# Mario Bros.
# Mario Open Golf
# Metroid
# Pinball
# Pro Wrestling
# Punch Out
# RC Pro AM
# Soccer
# Super Mario Bros.
# Super Mario Bros. 2
# Super Mario Bros. 3
# Tennis
# Tetris
# Urban Champion
# Volleyball
# Wario's Woods
# Yoshi's Cookies
# Zelda
# Zelda (Adventure of Link)

SNES
# Battle Clash
# Donkey Kong Country
# Donkey Kong Country 2
# Earthbound
# F-Zero
# Illusion of Gaia
# Killer Instinct
# Kirby's Avalanche
# Kirby Dream Course
# Kirby Super Star
# Kirby 3
# Pilot Wings
# Sim City
# Star Fox
# Stunt Race FX
# Super Mario Kart
# Super Mario RPG
# Super Mario World
# Super Metroid
# Super Play Action Football
# Super Scope 6
# Super Soccer
# Super Tennis
# Tetris Attack
# Tetris 2
# Uniracers
# Vegas Stakes
# Wario's Woods
# Yoshi's Hunting
# Yoshi's Island
# Zelda

N64
# 1080
# Blast Corps
# Bomberman 64
# Cruisin' USA
# Goldeneye
# Mario Golf 64
# Mario Party 3
# Mario Tennis 64
# Ogre Battle 64
# Paper Mario
# Pilot Wings 64
# Pokemon Snap
# Sin & Punishment
# Star Fox 64
# Super Mario 64
# Wave Race
# Yoshi's Story
# Zelda

Once again, keep in mind that this is not confirmation of Nintendo's Virtual Console strategy or its games—Nintendo will almost certainly alter the proposed strategy above in response to the survey and internal feedback, and the game list could easily change.

is SO STUPID...

http://www.doritos.com


A better recent redesign would be Stoned Wheat Thins. :)

Sony developer slams PS3
Here are some very sobering, if not shocking comments about the PlayStation3, made by Sony developer Josh Robinson (formatting is mine):

Well my immediate impression of the PS3 is... where is it? Seriously, where is it? They have a case, a controller and a dev kit. But the system still doesn’t even exist. So what is there to say? We received one of 5 PS3 dev kits in the United States some time ago. Several companies in the US as well as companies over seas were given the daunting task of creating a demo in less than 9 weeks on a first generation dev kit.

Now I’ll be honest with you. What most companies do is fake the entire demo. I mean they come up with some great visuals and neat tricks and scripted events. In the end however, its not a real time demo and its not running ON the actual box. We were the only company to my knowledge that showed something that ran it live on the box. Even then it was a scripted event. You could not pause the camera and fly around the scene.

So much for the ´Killzone 2´ demo, I guess. This must be regarded as proof that all the demos shown at E3 2005 were fake (with the possible exception of ´Unreal´). This qould be a huge blow to Sony´s reputation. Ever since May, there has been speculation about the authenticity of those demos. It now emerges that the console may not even have the power to output graphics of this quality.

Now I’ve spoken with people who are on the technical side of the PS3. I’ve also talked with people on the technical side of the XBOX 360. The consistent comment I am hearing from people on my end is, “The XBOX 360 is better”. They are saying that it is capable of just doing more.

I see Microsoft execs grinning from one ear to another. Sony´s claims that the PS3 boasts two teraflops computational power (apparently twice that of the Xbox360), if true, doesn´t seem to translate into a more powerful gaming machine. At the same time, development costs are truly staggering:

The game that we are creating for a launch title is a “just get it out” title in my opinion. It doesn’t look next generation. I don’t see how anyone could debate otherwise. (...) To be fair, this is a business. Sometimes you have to treat it as a business and not make the best title you can. The best title you can make usually costs 20-40million dollars/3 start overs and 4 years of your life. You just cant do that every time out. Its impossible.

This should end the speculation about just how much the development of a ´AAA´ title (i.e. a blockbuster) will cost on the PS3. At the same time, Josh is highly sceptical that even those games will really look next-gen in the near future. As a result, his closing comments sound quite gloomy.

Where is the box? Where is the final system? When is it coming out? No one knows and in the mean time people in the industry are starting to get just a little salty. I mean I was at e3 2005 and PS3 was almost no where to be seen.

In closing, I started of VERY excited about the PS3. I was very confident that it was going to just destroy the XBOX 360 just on the name SONY alone. The more time that goes by the more I am becoming doubtful. Everything I’ve developed or seen developed has yet to be “next gen”. The poly counts are not really any higher, im not seeing sub surface scattering, im not seeing much HDR lighting. (or they are faking it and not really doing it), I’m not seeing next gen fluid dynamics or object dynamics. I suspect that you’ll be able to have more dynamic objects in a scene than before. But im not seeing games doing this yet. We dont have a controller, there is no network code and there is no box. Its still the size of a normal PC.

I’m confident that the PS3 will have a few “crazy” games that show it off to its potential. But I would expect the full capabilities of the box to not show up until the system has been released PUBLICALLY for over a year. This is the extra time the developers will need with a FINAL system to truly make next gen games.

These comments are truly shocking in my opinion. Especially so, since this developer is employed by Sony. And he really is who he claims to be. His profile can be viewed on Sony Online Entertainment´s Station.com. I have been sceptical of the PlayStation3 becoming another Sony success story all along. But Sony seems to be in even bigger trouble than I thought.

Source: Down in Front
Thanks to: Joystiq

Interesting... if this is true, we're in for one hell of a system's war.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/natio...&cset=true

In a lesson on animal cruelty not soon forgotten, if the man isn't just angry at the animal and unable to learn from his own mistakes, this person caught a mouse and tossed it on a small fire he had going in the yard. The mouse, on fire, ran back to the house setting the thing ablaze.

Holy shit.

Quote:It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

Check It Out!
I have created a new meta crawer on the TovenNet website!

Let me know what you think!

[Here]

While the Metroid manga is supposedly liscensed by Tokyopop, it will be some time before its released stateside. In the mean while, Nintendo has 2 volumes of Metroid released and it talks about Samus's childhood as well as the Chozo who raised her. I stumlbed upon a fan translation here:

http://www.mechadrake.com/metroidmanga.html

Use the easy to read format link to get the full series, the individual pages do not contain the full volumes. I think Volume 2 has only been partially completed.

In case you're interested, theres an electronic version, the original Flash version that is, published in Japan, and they can be found here:

http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/e-manga/clu...oid/vol01/

http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/e-manga/clu...oid/vol02/

Quote:I hate the videogame press. There, I've said it - after you don't know how many false starts trying to weave that statement into a cleverly constructed sentence, I've just said it outright - I hate (...the majority of...) the videogame press.

Being a part of said clique the feeling of eating my young is beginning to set in as I write this, but whilst reading various magazines and online publications for reviews, previews, features and editorials lately I've had a nagging feeling at the back of my mind which burst forth one morning into a revelation: I don't like what I'm reading one bit. And consequentially and rather unsettlingly, I don't much like most of what I've written in the videogame press in the past, particularly in the area of reviews and previews.

Why this sudden wave of self loathing and revulsion? (Well, to sensationalise it somewhat... I'm not going to cut my fingers off anytime soon as some frustrated artists, with emphasis on the "i", have been known to do.) Well I've just been a bit late coming to the conclusion that the formulaic, child-minded writing-for-the-lowest-common-marketing-denominator style that encapsulates 99% of the mainstream videogame press is a load of crap.

Starting in the most critical area of the videogame press's remit and where I have the most self-doubt about my own writings in the past, reviews and previews have to be the most generic, structured and circumspect pieces of writing which we produce en masse for a public which, despite perhaps doubting its value to them, would still crucify any publication which dared to do it any other way.

Previews are, alongside reviews, the bread and butter of most publications. You can fill up ¼ to 1/3 of a magazine or websites content with them, they're obviously relevant as readers want to know what to expect in six months time as well as a critique of whatever has already arrived, and yet most previews are not worth the paper they are written on.

Apart from a few scolding incidences where old scores are settled via poor previews, such as with the now rather old Red Faction 2, sequel to a game which many magazines ran previews on their covers with such exultations as "Move over Half-Life!" only to have to then quietly do a one page review of the terrible final product tucked away at the back of the publication, most previews are sugar coating.

For one publications do not want to tick off their PR contacts who probably won't be sending them further preview or review copies if the publication trashes a game at preview time.

I would contest that it is at preview time where the press can make the most positive contribution to an otherwise poor game - with constructive criticism, and not, mind, the opposite of the sugar coating we see now and simple-minded trashing of seemingly poor games, the press can affect the thinking of developers so that the final product will be much better received than it would be with great previews and then trashy reviews, which takes away from the standing of the publication as well as sinking many the game.

The other critical element of all videogame press coverage is reviews, and these are not much better off than their preview counterparts, except the author has more of a free hand to give an opinion as opposed to invoking every positive expletive known to mankind in the space of 800 words.

Most reviews follow a simple formula of going through the game, taking apart all the bad points if it is a bad game and sticking a line or two in about its redeeming qualities, if in fact there are any, at the end, or else (if it is a good game) going through all the really good points about the game, and then sticking down the negatives into a paragraph at the end, usually beginning something like "Despite all this, Game X does have one or two minor problems..."

The problem with this, apart from the single-mindedness and near clerical nature of reviewing games, is that picking out good points is almost as subjective as some reviews. Harken back to Half-Life 2 and read all the amazing coverage about gravity guns and reflective water and then go searching for a line or two on all the (far more critical to the overall experience, I would say) atmosphere invoked by the environment of City 17 - because one or two lines is about all you're likely to find in most reviews, as Matt Sakey correctly pointed out in IGDA a year ago.

Rather than being critics who add to the industry as film and music journalists arguably did back in the heady days of the 50's - 70's (though there's a whole other debate in the state of those two branches of critical journalism these days and in the past) videogame journalists are mere extensions of the marketing machine, pushing even the most mediocre of games into a good light with the public in previews and then trashing them for sport to see how many good puns can be dredged out of the 500 words which the author really doesn't want to have to write.

Previews are wasted so as not to annoy the PR machine and reviews are even more by-the-numbers, sometimes also softened in order to keep the marketing hacks well buttered up.

As well as this there is a pervasive childishness running through many publications as they attempt to appeal to the adolescent-minded with crude jokes repeated to the point of being not all that funny jokes in themselves. There is also an arrogance which runs through many in the industry, with the replies to letters and feedback from readers who do not agree with the stance taken by a publication reading more like cheap put-downs as opposed to real responses.

Having been eating my young for the past 979 words you'll note that I haven't named the names of magazines, websites or otherwise for obvious reasons. Apart from libel there is the issue of burning my bridges, and I do want the option of being able to work in the videogame town again at some stage myself, and I daresay this piece being dragged out in a few years will not do me many favours with all but a few.

This also means that I can't name the names of the rather decent publications, blogs and even one or two mainstream writers and publications which manage to do a decent job and push the envelope somewhat, though still not to the extent of being worthy of many accolades for real critical contribution I'm sorry to say.

It is up to you as the reader to decide if the sugar-coated previews with not a negative adjective in their columns are what you really want; though I daresay that as consumers of these publications we do not help the situation by our complacency in it. The Powers That Be would be more than happy to let the videogame press roam at least somewhat more freely if it was what sold magazines and attracted eyeballs to websites, and so the old clichéd adage of "Voting with your feet" must be applied.

I wouldn't expect an overnight change from the current superficial to a superfluous model of videogame journalism, but a gradual expunging of the arrogant, child-minded and ultimately pointless style of writing and mindset would be more than welcome, and perhaps essential if the videogame press is to survive as videogamers grow up and mature past the age of 16.