FredEffinChopin

What tradition would that be? I was referring to peaceful protest. I've got my popcorn for this thing right now. This was definitely a bad decision for anyone looking to deflate the momentum of this movement. I'll wait to hear the reasoning behind the move. I know the general reason, but I mean the details of what made it a health hazard. It might be solid, but I'm leaning towards it being a flimsy pretense, most likely a technicality. The part I'm really curious about is how they're going to regroup. There is no way they can survive winter without the tents. Will they relocate (and possibly lose a great deal of effectiveness in terms of visibility), or will this become a different kind of animal altogether? I highly doubt it is over now.

I like that one. While I understand where Frank's mental image of the occupiers comes from, and even his points of view to some extent, I'm going to go ahead and say that Frank reasons like a child, and I'm not just referring to his labeling of thousands of peaceful protesters "pond scum". If his words are any indication, it would seem that he's one of those guys that dismisses anything he doesn't give a shit about as unimportant because he can name something that he feels is more important. Issues of concern are not mutually exclusive, and if he believes they are, or that terrorism is the giant problem that the average citizen should spend their time fretting over (rather than being tens of thousands of dollars in debt for a degree that can't get them employed at Starbucks) then Frank is living in a fantasy world deeper than anything he's drawn, or that any WoW-playing pond scum dwell in. His reasoning would suggest that we should be content with whatever political injustices we perceive as long as there is a war around to sweat over, which makes him a shill, willing or not. The fact that he paints the entire crowd, which happens to be one of the most diverse and widespread displays of one of the greatest American traditions in decades (agree with the protest or not, that is a fact) with a brush that would liken them to murderers and rapists based on some news reports of incidents that the outlet of his choice decides to write about, makes him someone who doesn't truly care enough about what he's raving about to bother giving it real consideration. Who can blame him, I'm sure it's a comfy life. Point is, his opinion is somewhere near a joke imho. He's entitled to his opinion like anyone else, but considering how out of touch he is with the needs and concerns of the most of America's population (or lack of enough awareness to be concerned), his input seems pretty irrelevant. To me.

Damn, that sounds pretty awesome. I think I may have experienced the rocket gliding, sort of. There are a couple of races that for some odd reason have you racing as a gorilla. Actually, come to think of it I think they're the races that are multiplayer. Maybe to ensure a balance in abilities/attributes? Anyway, there is a move that the gorilla can pull that has him/her sort of handglide in a nearly-straight line. It was pretty slick, but like all the gorilla movments, slow as shit. I was thinking I might go with flying for my next char, but after hearing about the hook and the gliding I may go acrobatics instead.

Wow, I just noticed this topic now, coincidentally, after I just spent a few hours there today. I wasn't there as a member really, I wanted to interview some people for a paper that I should be writing right now instead of doing this. While most of my points of view on this were already expressed in this thread, I may as well add my perspective in my own words. The primary issue with or criticism that I (depending on what time of the day you ask me) and many others have of the movement is its lack of a solid direction, which almost destines it to failure in at least one way, which is to say that without a goal there can't be a victory. When this began I laughed at the idea of it lasting for more than a few days. When I realized that there were a good number of people in for the long haul though, I started becoming annoyed by the execution of it. Truth is, I'm with them on most of their targets and grievances (that I'm aware of anyway), and I was totally heartened by the sight of people actually taking to the streets to stand up for themselves, once I was actually convinced that it wasn't a passing thing. The way it was going down though, made it totally look like a wasted opportunity to me, a chance to get a mass of people using one voice to make a change, and then not being able to think of any specific thing that could be agreed upon as most important, let alone realistically changed. What I've gradually come to realize is that all of that ambiguity, while being the primary reason why the protesters cannot be satisfied in the near future, is not only one of the main reasons that something of this magnitude could be achieved in the first place, but also the feature of it that may wind up making it an indirectly significant force. I don't see any one issue as being sufficient to have accumulated, more importantly than the numbers, the lasting gathering that this has turned out to be. Overambitious as it seemed to me at first, it's lasting, and while it may have dwindled in numbers, it only picks up more support as it continues, as well as more attention by the media and on a global scale. When various special interest groups started throwing their support in I considered the possibility (knowing that their primary concerns were their own agendas) that one or more of them might dilute the focus of the protest even further and/or steal the spotlight, possibly even bailing after a short time or after their own interests were addressed. The protest seems to have swallowed them so far though. As long as they continue to have any kind of presence there, and people keep paying attention to the protest as it spreads, the thing has got legs for a long time to come. I'd say if they make this winter, this could go on for years, provided action isn't taken to end it. No matter how media coverage may dip or rise on it, as long as the protest continues and continues to spread, interest in it will continue to snowball. By the time I had to leave it was only around 5pm, so I'm sure I didn't catch the brunt of the traffic the little park bears, but a lot of the people who were there didn't appear to be occupiers, but people passing through and checking the scene out. They were talking to people, checking out literature, and conducting interviews all over the place. People were also standing around the barricades and taking pictures, like at the zoo. It's become a fucking tourist attraction. Weird as it is, if it goes on that way long enough it can only mean good things for the public's general awareness of their own role in the socio-economic game, and how their government facilitates or maintains its balance. Ultimately, changes of the variety this crowd is looking for will not come from a vote or a flick of a switch, but either violent revolution or a very significant increase in public education and awareness, leading to a gradual mending of the roles and power of government and big-business in the lives of the vast majority of the population. The former won't happen, not in the places these protests are taking place, and certainly not in NY. Not even a failed attempt. People aren't that discontent. And not that many of them. The latter though, doesn't seem impossible. As far as the individuals down there go, I'd take anything I see on TV with a grain of salt. That goes both for the protesters a well as the police. For every jerkoff cop on any given force, I'd like to think there is one who is a human being while on duty as well. I've certainly encountered both varieties, and the same could be said for the people down in that park, or any group anywhere for that matter. There were definitely all kinds there, and while the nutjobs make the most noise, there are plenty of intelligent, concerned, organized, and responsible individuals down there who are keeping things moving. The media are the media, and so they'll immediately go to film the guy with half a shit hanging out of his shorts before anyone else (youtube culture baby!), but rest assured, this would have fallen apart quickly if they were the main representation on the floor. Anyway, I left feeling a little differently than I went in. Going in I was both for and against them in ways. After leaving I can't say I'm convinced as to the effectiveness of this in the end, but while it might just be a dead end, it also presents a possibility of a very positive change. I certainly can say that I'm behind the people who are devoting large chunks of their time to taking up space in the park. Many of them sleep there, and many people devote their time after work, all of them sacrificing in some way to support a cause they believe in. Even a kid whose parents might be bringing him gourmet dinners every night counts, as their parents have to choose to support them for that to happen, which makes them a part of this movement as well. Plus the kid could be doing anything else in the world rather than sit in a park for a few months. I know I would. *edit Fuck, I should have just written the paper.

Yeah, that's the one. The Taser Pull is by far the worst offender in my arsenal, but a couple of others whose names I can't remember are guilty as well. I'd imagine things of that variety are on the top of their to-do list when the dust settles from the f2p transition. Is the grappling hook a gadget/move, or are you referring to "acrobatic" transportation? I've only tried it once, as Robin in a PvP event. I haven't really flown yet (aside from the 5 minutes of time I put into the PC version before realizing that I need to hook up a gamepad before attempting that again), I'm still totally infatuated with super-speed. Leaping across two city blocks and landing directly in the precinct entry zone still makes me grin like an idiot.

^^^^^ That album used to make me want to kick the shit out of things. In a good way. Burn It Up in particular made me want to bite someone's ear off in joy. Must calm down.... Coincidence that you posted that, as what I'm about to place here was introduced to me at roughly the same point in my teenage years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5rVQg_C7Xw Too bad I didn't dig either of the albums of theirs I bought back then. Oh well.

Yeah, they applied some fixes and things are much better. The queues were something I could deal with, especially considering that I'm not a payed sub yet, but waiting in a queue for an hour only to encounter a LSoD was infuriating. I'm glad they took care of it quick, as not only was it annoying to see them waste their opportunity to make a positive impression on new users, but it also sucked to see how many paid subs felt like they were totally getting the shaft. Is the lag you're talking about one that keeps your special move animations frozen for a time? Not just the animations really, you (I) can't do anything while that animation is frozen, just try to back away from enemies until the game allows you to move again. If that's what you mean, then I'd say I experience it about 25% of the time I'm in. People have mentioned it on the forums and I know I've reported it via the game itself, so hopefully they'll take care of it quickly. It's pretty frustrating when that costs you a death at the hands of a boss.

(If that was intended for me) It's not that I want better games to make Home fun or worthwhile, it's that I think right now it might be the best or only way to get more people interested enough in Home that they will actually spend time time in it is to give them something to make them want to return. Without any pretense at all, there aren't many reasons I could think of that would make me approach a random avatar and strike up conversation. I think the reasons most people had for doing so in the early stages of Home was a "hot" avatar in front of them, which was one of its earliest problems. Without a common theme bringing individuals together on there the appeal of the social aspect of it comes down to people's willingness to type to strangers with a visual skin on things. With Second Life out there, as well as countless chat alternatives that don't provide a visual virtual setting, the odds of building on their user base based on that alone seems pretty slim. The best example I can think of is the Evo broadcast in Home, where for the first time, not only was I typing to a stranger, but with a whole bunch of them, and it was a lot of fun. We all laughed, cheered, shot the shit, and enjoyed the show. Without the common interest of the Evo tournaments and the broadcast happening live in front of us, I'm sure that we would've just been a bunch of avatars bumping into each other for a few minutes before we got bored and left. Things that bring people together are what (I believe) is going to keep people socializing in there and hanging out in general. Since it's the Playstation network games seem like the most natural thing to facilitate that dynamic, but other features and events could work as well, such as the live streaming they've tried a couple of times so far. They just need to be a little more than throwaway games and pretty environments though.

So I did check it out the night the new Home launched, and it looks like they're taking things in the right direction, though with less-than stellar execution. A friend and I (two briefly, but mostly one) went and did the quest that has you checking out the new areas and playing the games. The FPS they put in there (Bootlegger something-or-other) wasn't even remotely fun, which was a letdown. The RC Racing game was sorta neat, as was the game that was basically a tile-sliding puzzle on cubes, but we actually spent a good hour and a half playing Texas hold em. 2 if you count how long it took us to get it functioning properly with both of us at a table, but that kind of stuff is expected on a launch. For what they're working with in Home at this point, incorporating little games like that seems like the way to go, but to keep people coming back those games need to be something more than a passing distraction (and good). While there is stat tracking of some sort for the quest you're given and whatnot, there need to be leaderboards for specific games... Pardon me if there are and I just didn't notice. I know if they had a section where chess games were ranked and recorded I would be in there playing pretty frequently, and even watching while the higher ranked players played. Wherever that is going on, I'm sure to bullshit with others who are into it, and just like that I've become a social Home user. I'm sure if the latest game of push-the-ball of whatever would go over a lot better if there monthly, weekly, or daily leaderboards to gloat about being top on, maybe with exclusive gear for people who achieve that. It would also benefit from more games that feature one's avatar, and that get multiple people going together. Hold em and the Bootlegger game seemed like their attempt at that, but the latter was terrible, even for a first attempt. They should start a little less ambitious, like tower defense or something. Some of the arcade games in there are ok for a couple of minutes, but ultimately they want to get people having fun together.

Haha just heard that one last night.

lol I felt weird typing ftp to represent it, but for some reason f2p didn't occur to me. I don't pay enough attention when others type =p

Actually, after checking the ftp features, I decided to try mic chat anyway last night, just in case, and it worked perfectly fine. I couldn't use proximity chat, but I was able to get into chat channels with my friends. I don't know if they screwed something up on their end, but I'm not gonna complain about it =) As far as other communications go, I've been playing with my kb plugged in, but the nature of this game in the early stages doesn't really seem to require any kind of real communication so far. I'm sure when high-lvl parties go to get shit done some more coordinating will be necessary, but for right now my kb rarely gets used.

I was literally starting to becomed ashamed in here for my lack of PC-ness. My laptop could probably run it shittily, but it gets hotter than hell when I game, and I don't want to ruin it because... well, it's my laptop. Anyway, glad I'm not THE only person here who will be doing this console-side.

http://forums.station.sony.com/dcuops3/posts/list.m?topic_id=36239 Wow, the timing... That must've been posted right as I hit enter.

Ugh... I might not be as annoyed if the game started after I waited in the queue, but nope. This is my third time looking at a load screen for 10-15 minutes (following the queue) while listening to the sound of (presumably) the area it's trying to load. I don't think the average console gamer is as patient as I am in these matters, and a first impression like this will be a last impression for many. They're going to have a hard time convincing most people to pay $15 for legendary access. It's hard enough to introduce MMO concepts to gamers that aren't familiar with the genre, but when the first one they're treated to is an entry queue without a guarantee of entry even after waiting... I wish them the best of luck. For my sake as well as theirs, as this is a game I might see myself paying even that high price for, at least for a month or two at some point, provided they iron out basic issues like this.... And here is something new! I just got a disconnected screen. As I typed the last sentence. Good night.

........ Login queue? Is this for real? Does this go on in other MMOs? I'm roughly 2400th in it... I hope they don't expect people to subscribe to a game where they have to wait on a virtual line to play each session.

Yeah, he was more typical in that role. He's always a good guy (is it possible for a ninja to be anything but a guided assassin?) in my eyes though, for all the Ninja Theater Presents films. Which were ironically (as I recall) mostly Chinese, with about zero chance of seeing a Ninja. Still though, the weapons presentations were cool. And it relevant, as most of those weapons he would present were Chinese in origin anyway.

See?! That's the feeling you get from a Soder Cola Classic! *The fact that I was actually able to find Sho Kosugi giving a thumb-up has made my day. Even if it is so recent that I don't recognize him.

Hi. I am ShoKosugi. Welcome to Ninja Theater. The first lesson is: How to sell yourself of to the highest bidder(s)! After all, tabi boots and shuriken aren't free, and while I do the hero thing mostly for the cause, I deserve a little greasing now and then too.

This is a big deal, and didn't have high hopes for seeing that kind of dynamic until next gen. I'm holding out hope for this one now. People are speculating it's Ray Liotta. Also, opinions. People say this guy looks like Vercetti. I'm not convinced. What do you think? Funny, I almost responded with "A fake-ass Ray Liotta". I don't think it's actually him, but I'll give it a new listen with a serious ear. As far as the pic, Vercetti's face wasn't all that distinct... Just looks like a white guy to me, I'd guess a mission-giving boss-type from the fact that it appeared to be a cutscene where someone was giving you a talk.

I was honestly hoping that they would continue the trend of ethnic diversity they had set in the past two games. I absolutely loved the Brighton Beach immigrant angle that they took in IV, and I imagine that with the overwhelming numbers of Mexicans who flee their country and wind up in LA, there might be a similar story to be told. Of course I can appreciate them not wanting to do that twice in a row though. Anyway, it's 2007 again and I just have to wait a really long time now. *looks at watch* Is it here yet?

Fuck... The download surprised me by weighing in around 125MB. The updates too. Apparently the bulk of it is contained in the in-game updates, which looks to be about 14 gigs... And you can't background download or exit the game, it just has to sit at the title screen.... Absolutely brutal. Good thing I've gotta go record this podcast and won't be back for a few hours.

Wow, I'm an ass. Didn't realize this existed when I made that thread about the game going free. Anyway, it's officially gone free-to-play! I'm downloading now and will probably begin tinkering late tonight when I should be writing a paper. Feel free to send an invite if you're on PS3, my ID is in my sig.

The most exciting thing about Home when it announced was the ability to have virtual media players in your home with which you could stream HDD content to anyone in your homespace. Once that was cancelled my excitement for it was pretty much gone. I was really into the possibility of watching weekly episodes of Bleach with my buddies online while bullshitting, or listening to our music while shooting some pool. They have gone a long way since launch though, and there is so much more to do now than ever. Last couple of times I was in a spent a good hour or so dicking around with a couple of people. I should probably pop in again soon and check out the new game-things they incorporated. Speaking of last time I was in, the streaming of live events through home is awesome, despite the fact that it functions less than perfectly. I was there for the E3 press conference stream as well as Evo 2011, and both were cool to share with other people as they happened. A little fine-tuning and that is the kind of thing I can see myself popping into whenever it happens.