Quote:"In this country, the state lacks the authority to ban protected speech on the ground that it affects the listener's or observer's thoughts and attitudes,"

I was surprised to see this post on Ars Technica. I thought perhaps the author slipped up and it was meant to mean the opposite.

Who has the game!? I dont! dammit!

I saw this at Gamefaqs so I thought we should do it to - you post your name, town name and (when you get it) your friend code so we can all be accesed. The game has a 'boot' option, so if anyone is messing up your hard work, you can send them flying and then block them from ever coming to your town again. So be creative with your angst. And lastly, leave your DS on so us night owls (and people in other time zones) get the chance to see you.

I dont have the game yet therfore I dont have a town, but anyone who does have the game post your contact info here! And can someone please explain how the DS goes online? I've heard a few different ways but I dont know what I need to buy. I read about a dongle, but dont I need a wifi converter thing? or does the dongle do that for me?

I'm on a cable modem, windows 95 (lmao) and my PC has some USB slots that ...might work.

Also, I was thinking of making an AC forum for auctions, trade, garage sales etc. Didn't we have an AC forum at some point? Is that still around (archives)? I want AC dimmat! Whoever has it, i have questions:

1.) How many active slots do you get for the user-tiles?

2.) Can someone from town post those user tiles in a different town?

3.) When creating user tiles, does it still take what's on the shirt and apply it to the hat? (on boys upsidedown, on girls takes center image and applies to the sides)

:)

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2682499?htv=12

A Christmas Story

'Twas the night before Christmas--Old Santa was pissed. He cussed out the elves and threw down his list. Miserable little brats, ungrateful little jerks. I have a good mind to scrap the whole works! I've busted my ass for damn near a year, Instead of "Thanks Santa"--what do I hear? The old lady bitches cause I work late at night. The elves want more money--The reindeer all fight. Rudolph got drunk and goosed all the maids. Donner is pregnant and Vixen has AIDS. And just when I thought that things would get better. Those assholes from the IRS sent me a letter, They say I owe taxes--if that ain't damn funny. Who the hell ever sent Santa Claus any money? And the kids these days--they all are the pits. They want the impossible--Those mean little shits I spent a whole year making wagons and sleds Assembling dolls...Their arms, legs and heads I made a ton of yo yo's--No request for them, They want computers and robots...they think - I'm IBM! Flying through the air...dodging the trees Falling down chimneys and skinning my knees I'm quitting this job there's just no enjoyment I'll sit on my fat ass and draw unemployment.

There's no Christmas this year now you know the reason,

I found me a blonde. I'm going SOUTH for the season!

:) --ETOVEN

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/story...id=6140485

Not good. Fortunatly, it should be fixed by the time it hits stateside. I myself have had enough experience with problematic save features (a certain demo disk) to realize this absolutely sucks for those poor Japanese folks. But that's okay, they're not people like you and me.

Hopefully Nintendo will be sure to test for this sort of thing in all future games that use some sort of cross-save access feature.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/judgejudyreign.html

Fucking hilarious.

After reading Ebert say that videogames can never be art and then reading the ensuing arguement that sprung from it at GAF, I started thinking seriously about this. Art videogames really art? If so why? And if they aren't, can they ever be?

First off, we all consider movies to be art right? Okay, but how did art progress to that point? Several thousand years ago there were three distinct types of art: music, visual medium [painting, sculptures, ect.], and books. These three art styles rarely, if it all, had anything what-so-ever to do with one another. Fast forward a few thousand years to the birth of theater. It combined in all three and as well as adding new elements such as actors, set design, costumes, and so on. Now, no one today would dispute that theater is a legimate form of art, but it's quite likely that when it was first introduced their were many who were skeptical that it could hold a candle to a good book or a well-conducted orchestra. Fast forward to 1895 to the birth of cinema. It took all the the elements of theater it expounded them far beyond what could ever be possible on a stage. It added a sense of realism, depth, and a feeling of immersion that even the most elaborate stage plays can only hint. No one today would argue that cinema isn't a legimate art form, yet many people back in the early days thought that it could never be as good as well-made and acted stage play. However, the 1930's and 1940's proved that movies could be art in their own right with movies such as Citizen Kane, Metropolis, and Casablanca.

Cinema didn't become art overnight, it took dedication by skilled creators to transform it from mere moving pictures to legitmate art. To accomplish this all the factors that make a movie a movie had to be working in perfect harmony with one another. A 100 piece orchestra will still sound good even if a few of the instruments are working properly, but the truly great compositions need all 100 instruments to be working together perfectly.

And now we have videogames. My thoughts have lead me to believe that videogames are the next evolution in art, much like cinema and theater before. What seperates videogames from stage plays and books is that the audience is put in a seat of relative power. No longer are they merely watching scripted events play out in perfect timing, they now have the ability to decide how and when these events play out. In other words, videogames add freedom and interactivity, as well as a larger level of immersion, to what movies have added to art.

If videogames CAN be art, are there any yet that ARE? This is a difficult question to answer. While it's true that games such as ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and the Metal Gear Solid series have expanded the meaning of videogames, they are still no match for the for greats of other art forms. They give us a hint, a taste, of what videogames can do in the realm of art, but they are merely stepping stones in the evolution of the art form to heights that we cannot begin to imagine. It'll happen eventually; one day videogames will be considered legimate art in the same way that paintings, movies, books, music, and stage plays are, but until all the parts that make a videogame a videogame are able to work in perfect harmony this will still be a dream of the future.

117 - The Rock of Jesus