Well, I've followed this discussion a bit and I've got to say I'm a little amazed at the amount of energy and passion in it.

To me the matter is simple: if the US constitution states that religion should not be enforced, then people should not be made to swear an oath containing a reference to god.

But there is one other thing that I find much more interesting. Some other posters said that this pledge of allegiance is something that US kids have to make every day and that they can get in trouble if they don't. What if someone doesn't want to make it at all? What if he or she says "fuck the US, I think we should go back to having independent states"? Or, for those North Dakotan's out there: "one nation, indivisible, except for South Dakota"? Aren't those valid opinions that are protected by the US constitution? So how can this be combined with the need to pledge allegiance to the USA?

Note that the examples above are NOT my opinions - they're just examples, nothing more.

they're obviously preparing the Chewbacca defense for something. Has Funcom been sued?

Yeah, I was also pretty impressed by the special FX. There are far worse effects in some "professional" science fiction films.

The action is a bit slow-paced for my tastes, but what the hell. This wasn't intended to be the next Hollywood blockbuster and for a hobby flick it's very impressive.

Blue, now that you fixed the logo you have created a problem for some user

all those people complaining about that now can't..... so all that is left for them is to complain about Out of the Blue... poor guys

Yeah, but Blue also developed that new Hudson Hater Link (TM) technology that removes the number one excuse for bitching in the messageboards. So hopefully the trolls will find it too strenuous to think of anything new and go somewhere else with a broken banner or something :).

I couldn't help it - I laughed out loud when I read this one.

Thanks Blue

Uh, I don't know, but from looking at the screenshots I'd say that this is a pretty obvious Zelda clone. I haven't played the demo but the enemies and landscape look so much like they were taken directly from Zelda. Couldn't they at least have been a little more creative?

On the other hand - I'd play a good Zelda clone any day

It's a virus that merely watches .jpg and executes code that it finds in there. Now this .jpg code can do anything rather than one specific thing like most viruses did in the past. Someone can send out .jpg code that deletes files, and someone else can send out .jpg code that sends reg info somewhere..

This kind of virus is nothing new. For example, there are tons of virii(sp?) out there that allow other people unlimited access to the infected computer. The only "new" thing about this JPEG virus would be that the instructions on what to do are transmitted using JPEG files instead of, say, a TCP connection.
Actually, I'd classify this as a low-threat virus, since the chances that someone has both an infected system and then views a JPEG with embedded instructions are pretty small. Certainly much lower than a virus that doesn't have to be "activated" by a JPEG file.

This virus thing is complete nonsense. Obviously, the person who wrote the article has misunderstood the information he/she was given. JPEG files do not include any kind of active components, no scripts, no executables.

The article is contradicting itself by stating:

In its current form, an infected JPG file cannot infect another computer on its own.

What kind of virus is that if it requires itself to be already installed on a computer in order to infect it? D'Oh?

But Gullotto said there's no reason a virus writer couldn't make the picture itself able to infect other computers.

Apart from the picture being completely passive piece of data, that is...

They are not only not protecting the children with their silly laws, but also giving us a hard time getting hands on non censored games.

Huh? A hard time getting our hands on non censored games? You can always just buy the US or UK version. http://www.okaysoft.de has imported versions of almost all games, usually at a price similar to the German version.

And you'll want the english version anyway. That way you don't have to put up with bored sub-standard voice actors that sound like they have been hired off the street. Oh, and you won't have those annoying translation errors either (Baldur's Gate, anyone?).

Are you all just joking or is it really normal for US dentists to let their patients suffer? In Germany it is usually no problem to get an appointment within the next two days when you've got acute pain. They will squeeze you in somewhere or stay longer in the evening. Or, if nothing else works, they will find a colleague for you to go to.

If a dentist told me I'll have to put up with the pain for weeks I'd immediately go to someone else. This is not how it should be.

current wireless connections...
Are not really considered 'broadband

Actually, the term broadband doesn't refer to the connection speed. It is often associated with it but technically it means that the data is transmitted using multiple carrier frequencies. In fact, most modems are "broadband" but they use low frequencies, so they are pretty slow by today's standards.

Personally I think it's the lack of scoring (2 goals in 90+ minutes of running around, ack).. They could use a couple less people running around, make the field shorter/less wide and get rid of offsides, then maybe they'd have something.

Naah. If you want basketball, watch basketball :). The good thing about football's not the goals (well, not *just* the goals) but the "gameplay". Watch Zidane playing and you know what I mean. Football's a lot about tactics, ball control and elegant moves. I remember watching a game Brazil against the Netherlands a few years ago - it ended 0:0 but boy, was that a good game! Very high speed and great moves on both sides. They just had bad luck when it came to actually getting the ball into the net, but it was a lot of fun to watch :).

Each year I get excited at World Cup time because when I go to a local sports bar for lunch and a dark creamy tapped beverage there is actually something to watch other than the Bahama workout.

Actually the World Cup only takes place every 4 years :). That's one of the things that make it so special.

Anyway, I like it quite a lot so far. We've seen some great games already with some big surprises (like the French losing their first!). I only wish the Netherlands were part of it. They may not be among the best 4 teams anymore but they are certainly a lot better than many of the teams that take part. Oh well, you can't have everything - I've got to be content with our own (Germany's) 8:0 victory :).

Then what about all those ABC PrimeTime bits where they found billions being wasted on things like toilet seats?

If the American military is even remotely like ours (German) I believe every bit of it. Our very own Bundeswehr once sent a Tornado fighter to some central warehouse in Munich to fetch a few metres of reflective tape to mark an area where shooting training was to take place. Never mind that this kind of tape can be purchased dozens of shops nearby for a buck or two - the Bundeswehr has central material management and they are not allowed to buy anything themselves. So, the tape was ordered but not delivered. After a couple of months the priority of the order was increased. After another month it was increased again. Finally, a week before the shooting training was to take place the commander upped the request to the highest priority - that's war deciding materials that have to be delivered as fast as possible at any cost. Voilá, they send out the Tornado to fetch it...

Talk about wasting money!

Hmmm. From the interview:

You know, some people were actually able to play through the game very quickly, while others took 60 hours to play through.

Game length aside, this comment suggests that the game content is already complete! At least in some rudimentary form, but obviously if they had people play through the entire game and estimate the overall playing time all the levels have to be in there already, in some form or another. If that is true those ION Storm guys have been really busy in the last year :).

If you look at these models, they're actually 3,000 polys, although they look closer to 40,000. If I turn a light on the model [snaps on torch], you can see that the shadows in the light actually affect the way the textures look. That isn't actually a 3D fold in his arm there, it's not polygonal.

About time more games started to use bump mapping

Go ION! Can't wait!

Install programs are rarely straightforward - in fact they can be pretty complex

That depends - Installers for business software can be pretty complex, agreed. But most games nowadays don't even offer a choice between small and full installations - they just copy a bunch of files to the destination directory and create a couple of links and registry entries. Not exactly rocket science.
However, that's exactly why we get bugs in installers - because the installer is hacked together AFTER the deadline and the QA and is then only run on a few machines to check if it works. For some reason it is seen as separate from the game, which is a big mistake, IMO.

Sorry for the rant, but I am just tired with developers pushing out mediocre code to frothing fans (or unpaid beta testers).

As I understand it, it's often the publisher who creates the installer, not the developer.

But you're right, of course. Installers are not usually QAed much, mainly because they are so simple and straightforward. Sadly, experience shows that "simple and straightforward" is often equivalent to "prone to bugs", because no one thinks about it a lot.

Thanks for the explanations

Uh, being German I don't really understand what Girl Scout cookies are. Anyone care to explain to a poor European what makes them so special? And why are they not just sold in shops?

Just curious...

Hey, Blue...how about a disclaimer for Hudson stories in the future? Spoiler space or something like it...I can't stand these stories.

Oh come on. It won't kill you if you read a Hudson story "by accident". Besides, you can usually tell by checking if the word Hudson is in the first sentence. You can then actually stop reading it you know?

Just to add my vote: keep those doggie stories coming, Blue!

[edit] oops, I should stop trying to type with my nose...
This comment was edited on May 3, 17:55.